Continual activity of Nature in the vegetable kingdom. the latter nourishment alone. In this consists the whole mystery. The beneficent Creator, willing that Nature should conduce both to the pleasure and support of man, commanded her not to bring forth all her productions at once, but in regular succession: for, in the former case, none of the above-mentioned ends could have been answered. How could men find time to gather their harvests, if all the fruits were to attain maturity at one and the same time? How could they preserve them, especially since many of them would very soon become unfit for use? What then would become of those qualities which delight our senses? How would cherries and other summer fruits taste amid snow and frost? Would not our wine turn to vinegar, if the grapes whence this beverage is extracted were to ripen during the heats of summer? What would become of those myriads of animals who are objects of the benevolent care of the Creator as well as we? How could they live, if all the fruits were ́ to arrive at maturity at once? Many hundred species of insects subsist only upon flowers; where would they find subsistence, if these lasted but a month or two? Could they in that time collect stores sufficient for their support throughout the remainder of the year? Most of the insects, indeed, have no food during the winter; but they are so constituted that in the season when Nature affords them no supply, they fall into a profound lethargy, in which state they have no occasion for nourishment. In summer they must be provided for, because they are then awakened by the heat. It is, therefore, certain that, were Nature arranged in a differentmanner, both men and animals would suffer want, or even perish with hunger. We have, then, abun, Continual activity of Nature in the vegetable kingdom. dant reason to conclude that the support of men and animals is one of the principal reasons why the Creator hath caused Nature to operate with such incessant activity in the vegetable kingdom. If we reflect on the gratification of the organs of sight and smell, which God designed to afford mankind in the works of Nature, we shall perceive the absolute necessity of the present arrangement. It was requisite that she should not only display all her flowers in their greatest beauty, but that she should produce a continual succession, that man might enjoy this pleasure, not for a short interval, but for a very long period. In spring, when he walks forth to view the different productions that she is preparing for our future nourishment, he beholds the blossoms of the trees unfolding all their beauty and magnificence. In summer, when the growing corn principally attracts his attention, a thousand charming flowers delight his eye. One generation succeeds another, as long as man can enjoy the pleasing spectacle. At length, when inclement winter arrives to confine us within our habitations, Nature produces other vegetables, which, though less striking to the eye, are nevertheless of manifold utility. Hence it appears that the pleasure and gratification of man are one of the reasons why God has arranged and constituted Nature in the manner we have already observed. This, then, is the law, according to which God has regulated the vegetable kingdom. His object was, that men and animals should find an abun dant subsistence, and that the former should, moreover, enjoy as much pleasure and gratification as possible. Agreeably to this law, some plants flower Beauty and utility of meadows. and bear fruit in spring, others in summer, and others in autumn and winter: each has its appointed time, and appears at the very moment when it is of the greatest service. As one decays and perishes, another appears in blooming beauty. Many thousands of plants present themselves to our view, and all of them are obedient to the same law. Such is the wise order established among all the works of the Creator, though to us short-sighted mortals many things appear unseasonable, and others without either end or utility. Let us then praise the Lord for every ordination of his wisdom, and never behold the manifold revolutions which take place in the vegetable kingdom without bearing in mind that they were intended to conduce to our advantage and pleasure. How will our hearts then expand with gratitude to our bountiful Father, and with what transport will they be filled when we walk abroad in our gardens or in the fields to contemplate the beauties of Nature! JULY 16. BEAUTY AND UTILITY OF MEADOWS. THE sight of a beautiful and extensive garden affords us in this season an exquisite gratification, which those who remain shut up in their apart ments cannot enjoy, and of which, indeed, they can form no conception: but the pleasure derived from a garden laid out and cultivated by the most skilful hand, is not to be compared with that which we receive from our walks in the meadows and fields. The proud tulip, the waving narcissus, and the blue hyacinth are less pleasing to me than the Beauty and utility of meadows. simple flowers which modestly raise their heads in 'their native fields. With whatever charms the flowers cultivated in our gardens may be adorned, still I give the preference to those of our meadows. The former are beautiful; the latter combine utility with beauty; and the pleasure received from beauty, without utility, is of very short duration. Is it not the case, my dear reader, that in the long, uniform gravel walks, within these walls and these enclosures, we sometimes feel a confinement and restraint that are irksome and oppressive? We sigh for the wide, unobstructed range of the fields; we long to rove there in the full enjoyment of liberty; we want more space and more variety. The aspect of Nature, rich, beauteous, and fruitful Nature, varies at every step during this season of the year; but in the embellishments of our gardens we discover an insipid sameness and uniformity. Their very order and regularity soon diminish the pleasure we at first received from them; and when they no longer have any thing new to offer, the eye becomes weary of beholding the same objects. How delightful, on the contrary, is the incessant variety of the meadows and fields! With this continual change of objects and the expansive prospect the eye can never be cloyed. To heighten our pleasure, Nature has not made the earth perfectly fevel, but has diversified its surface with gently swelling eminences and delightful hills. She has done still more; she has relieved us from the trouble of cultivating and watering these flowery gardens. She distributes over them a prodigious quantity of seeds, by means of which she produces a perpetual verdure, or if it chance to be here and there interrupted, she soon restores it to its pristine beauty. Beauty and utility of meadows. The wonderful variety of plants which cover our meadows is not, however, designed merely for shew. Each has leaves and blossoms, beauties and properties peculiar to itself. In every field we find, it is true, innumerable multitudes of the same species of plants, but we cannot take two steps without trampling on, perhaps, a hundred different kinds of grasses, each having a peculiar structure and a different use. With the pleasure which the aspect of the meadows affords the eye, our bountiful Creator hath combined the most important advantages. For us they produce plants, some of which serve us for food, and others for medicine. But the principal benefit we derive from the fields is this, that they support, with scarcely any expence, the animals which are most serviceable to us. The ox, which, after a life of labor, furnishes us with a substantial and nutritious aliment, requires nothing but grass for his subsistence. The horse, whose services are so multifarious, desires no other recompense than the liberty of bounding over the pastures, or a supply of hay for his manger. The cow, whose milk is so useful for various purposes of domestic economy, is satisfied with the same kind of fodder. Meadows and pastures are most profitable to the husbandman, and are preferable even to the cultivation of corn, for their produce is always certain; they want neither ploughing nor sowing, but only require the little trouble attendant on the gathering of their crop, which is not casual or precarious, for it is very rarely indeed that our meadows are laid waste either by drought or by inundations. It is, nevertheless, painful to observe the inattention of mankind with respect also to this blessing. VOL. III.-Nọ. 15. F |