ABSTRACT
Beauty and utility are equally attributes of the vegetable kingdom. The natural ornaments and clothing of the earth are the herbs and trees that conceal the nakedness of her soil, and garb her with a robe of verdure. The investigation of the various vegetable products that have been used for purposes of manufacture, clothing, ornament, food, and physic, is a part of the science of the Botanist. The people of all countries and climates, from the first appearance of the human race, have applied to use their vegetable productions. The most rudimentary forms of flowerless plants are exceedingly minute, and approach so nearly the nature of the lowest forms of animal life, that botanists and zoologists, even after the closest investigation, are in doubt respecting their true position. Perhaps a portion of the unpleasant effect produced by such experiments, depends upon the extreme difficulty of imitating, very perfectly, the minute features of the parts of plants.
