. The Bible and science. nimals, and seeds ofsome of their plants. Yet the productions of variouscountries, although thus to some extent assimilated,iiave not been rendered identical. Each country stillretains more or less its own Fauna and its own Flora,adapted to the conditions of soil and climate which thecountry aftbrds. On the terraces covering the longsides of the hills of Palestine we find the thriving olive,the fig-tree, the pomegranate, and the almond-tree;while in Egypt, on the rich clay mud by the riverside,we find the palm-tree, the cucumber, the onion, themelon, and the leek, and
. The Bible and science. nimals, and seeds ofsome of their plants. Yet the productions of variouscountries, although thus to some extent assimilated,iiave not been rendered identical. Each country stillretains more or less its own Fauna and its own Flora,adapted to the conditions of soil and climate which thecountry aftbrds. On the terraces covering the longsides of the hills of Palestine we find the thriving olive,the fig-tree, the pomegranate, and the almond-tree;while in Egypt, on the rich clay mud by the riverside,we find the palm-tree, the cucumber, the onion, themelon, and the leek, and formerly the papyrus and thelotus flourished in the Isile water. On the plainsof Sharon and Esdraelon, wheat grew in abund-ance, as it did in the delta of Egypt, but, though thetwo kinds resembled one another in appearance, and ADAPTATION OF PLANTS TO COUNTRIES. 51 were both readily recognizable as wheat, they differedfrom each other, and no one could mistake the wheat ofEgypt for that of Canaan. All through the world we. Fig. 1.—The lotiLS. find the same thing prevailing, the same adaptationof the plants to the countries in which they grow, thesame diversity of form and structure corresponding todiverse climes and soils, and these not only give a E 2 52 RELATIONS OF PLANTS TO EACH OTHER. character of their own to the landscape, but affect thecharacter, habits, and disposition of the natives. InEgypt, we get sharp contrasts of brilliant colour, thebright green grass, the darker green of the palms, andthe brilliant yellow of the naked sandstone, rock, andsand, while in Palestine, the grey lichens which coverthe rocks, and the ferns which grow in the crevices ofthe stone on the hill sides, give half tints wdiich blendthe bright blue of the sky with the dull green of theolive and the darker hue of the fig. Unlike as are the plants and trees of different regionson the earths surface to each other, is any kinship tobe traced between them ? Are any characteristics tobe found to con
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
