)
The productions of vegetation have had a vast influence on the
commerce of nations, and have been the great promoters of
navigation, as may be seen in the articles of sugar, tea, tobacco,
opium, ginseng, betel, paper, etc. As every climate has its peculiar
produce, our natural wants bring on a mutual intercourse; so that
by means of trade each distant part is supplied with the growth of
every latitude. But, without the knowledge of plants and their
culture, we must have been content with our hips and haws,
without enjoying the delicate fruits of India and the salutiferous
drugs of Peru.
Instead of examining the minute distinctions of every various
species of each obscure genus, the botanist should endeavour to
make himself acquainted with those that are useful. You shall see a
man readily ascertain every herb of the field, yet hardly know
wheat from barley, or at least one sort of wheat or barley from
another.
But of all sorts of vegetation the grasses seem to be most
neglected; neither the farmer nor the grazier seem to distinguish
the annual from the perennial, the hardy from the tender, nor the
succulent and nutritive from the dry and juiceless.
Pages:
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354