Page:Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 1.djvu/67



As vegetables contribute a great proportion of the food of man, conduce much to his comfort, supply many of the most valuable medicines, afford a variety of products useful in almost every oeconomical art. and produce some of the most beautiful objects for the gratification of the most elegant tastes ; the study of plants becomes one of the most extensive, and at the same time most interesting branches of natural knowledge.

The first stage in this study is, the accurate discrimination of plants, and this constitutes the science of Systematic Botany. The second is, their naturalization in any particular situation ; for a successful reali- zation of which, a knowledge of the Geography of plants is necessary, or an acquaintance with the places where plants naturally grow, and the causes which influence their distribution over the globe, and not a dependence upon chance. Applied Botany forms the third stage, for which the two others are preparatory, which consists in a knowledge of the various products of plants, whether useful as articles of diet, or as medicinal agents, or for their oeconomical properties.

For the promotion of the study of plants, gardens have been so generally established, that there are no capitals, and few great towns, of civilized nations, which do not possess such institutions, frequently maintained at a very considerable expence in the most unfavourable situations, where the difficulties opposed by nature are overcome by the ever-varying resources of art; and the successful result is displayed, in the productions of nature which luxuriate only under the heats of