4 ° R E ; M_ A R K S on ' t h e
TORMA-
•XJON OF
S-OIJ-.
mentioned' mofly plant,' aEnew . rufh (J un co' s triglumisJ a fine
A m e l l \t6, - a molt beautiful fcarlet C h e i,o n e , and laftly, eveii
Ihrubby plants, a fcarlet flowered, Ihrubby plant o f a new
genus, which we called;-E-m:b.o t h s h im cpc'cineum j two new kinds
o f berbeajis,. (Ber b è .ri;S ilicifojia &• mttiors)a an arbutits with euf-
pidated leaves (A rjsutus mueronata) and laftly the tree-bèaring
the Winter’s bark (D r im y s wintert) which however in theft
rocky barren parts o f Tiorra del Fuego; never exceeds the M | o f
a 'tolerable Ihrub;' whereas in'Succefs Bay, on a gentle lipping
ground, in a rich 'and deep foil it grows to the lire' o f the largelt
timber. T h e falling leaves* the rotting mofly plants, and, various
Other ci'rcumftances - increafe the mould and form a deeper foil,
more and- more capable o f hearing larger plants; Thvjs: they all
enlarge the vegetable fyftem and refeue new animated parts o f the
creation from their inactive, chaotic-ftate. |
I cannot pafs: over in fileneethe peculiar growth :of- one fpecies o f
graft on New Year’s Ifle, near Staten Land, and which welikewife
obferved a f South-Georgia: it is the well-known DaSylis 'glomèratdy
or one o f its varieties.-. This grafs is/.perenniaU, apd bears the rigours
of the colfleft winters : it grows always in- i.fts:or bunches,
at fome diftance from each other. :Every-yea-r: the fhqots: form, as;
it were, a new head, and enlarge the growth of the, bunch, till at
laft you fee thefe bunches o f the height o f four or five feet, and at
the
F O R M -A 1 ’ I O N o f S O 1 L .
the'top tw o sir-three times bróa&er .than at the bottom. The-leaves
and ftalk-s o f the-graft are -ftrong, and often three ör four feet long.
-Under theft -tufts the urfine foal« and pi-nguins take Ihelter ; and, as
they come fo often dripping oat-ef the fea, they make the lanes between
-the tufts -extremely dirty and muddy, fo that a man. cannot
walk, except on the tops o f the tufts. In other places the ftiags
f-Pelectmus take peflêffion-of thefe -tufts, and make
their nefts on them ; fo that b y this -graft, and -the excremënt-s öf
feals, pinguïns, and Ihags, the foil o f thexeuntry gradually becomes
more and more elevated.
In *the Southern parts 'óf Néw Zeelahd -we find the formation -of
mould and foil much more forward, becaufe its climate is milder,
the fummer longer, and vegetation more quick and ftrong: but,
upon the whole, we obferve the fame analogy in its origin. A ll
forts o f ferns and of fmall mofly plants, efpecially the m n ia r ü m ,
•occupy‘large fpots ; which, by their continual fpreading and yearly
-decay, increaft the mould, and thus form a foil for the reception of
-numerous fhrubs. Their foliage every year putrifies, and accumulates
the precious .treafure of fertile mould, in which at lalt the
largeft trees grow to an immenfo extent and bulk ; till, decaying by
■ old age, a violent, impetuous llorm breaks them down j and they,
in their fall, crulh numberlefs bulhes and Ihrubs, that pafs together
into a ftate o f putréfadion, and afford fpace and nutriment for a
■ Q whole
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TÏON OF
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