150 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the root is suspended, and the maturing of its fruit is suspended. 

 Without the full and healthy action of the leaves, a tree cannot 

 possibly mature either its wood or its fruit. The peculiar charac- 

 teristics of any fruit, as its size, flavor, texture, keeping' qualities, 

 &c., are doubtless due to some peculiarities of the leaf which deter- 

 mine the nature of the nutriment supplied to the fruit, and which 

 is elaborated or manufactured, as it were, in the leaf. These pecu- 

 liarities of the leaves in different varieties of the same species arc 

 so obscure that no one from an examination of a leaf could deter- 

 mine the properties of the fruit to be produced by it ; but the fact 

 appears to be certain, for if we would reproduce any given varie- 

 ties, we can do so only by means of leaf-buds. By inserting into 

 another tree, a single bud, or a scion bearing several buds, we can 

 determine the future foliage, and so be sure of perpetuating the 

 desired variety of fruit. 



For aught which appears thus far in considering the Organs of 

 Vegetation, it would seem that a tree might go on to -grow and 

 extend itself upwards and outwards and downwards indefinitely, 

 and stop growing only when a supply of nourishment should fail. 

 But such is not the case. After a period of growth, varying with 

 different species and varieties, and somewhat also with the condi- 

 tions under which they are grown, they arrive at puberty, and now 

 a new series of organs appear and come into action, viz : the Or- 

 gans of Beprod action, or those by which it multiplies or increases 

 in number. In the case of the trees we are considering these con- 

 sist of the flower and the fruit containing seeds. 



Flowers come from buds just as branches do, but in this case, 

 instead of elongating into branches, the leaf-buds first undergo a 

 transformation into flower-buds. In the peach and the quince tins 

 change takes place towards the end of the first season, and the 

 fruit is borne on wood of the preceding year's growth. In the 

 apple, pear and plum it takes place commonly the second or third 

 year, and it is usually the smaller and less fully developed buds 

 near the base of the previous year's shoot which are thus changed 

 in their form and nature, while the more vigorous ones push into 

 branches. What causes this transformation of leaf-buds into 

 flower-buds is not known ; but we may learn something of the 

 circumstances usually attending it, and of the results flowing from 

 it ; as, for instance, that seedling trees usually are slower in com- 

 ing to productiveness than grafted ones; such as are situated in 



