20 SYLVA AMERICANA. 



asserts, after Bradley, that it gives birth to the buds. Some botan- 

 ists of the first rank believe, that the pith is, in a plant, what 

 the brain and spinal marrow are in the inferior order of animals. 

 " The pith," says Darwin, " appears to be the first or most essential 

 rudiments of the new plant, like the brain, spinal marrow, and 

 medulla oblongata, which is the first visible part of the figure of 

 every animal foetus from the tadpole to mankind." It seems, 

 however, that the pith is not essential, or absolutely necessary to 

 vegetation, as we often observe trees to live and thrive without 

 it. The guaiacum or lignum vitae, it is said has no pith. Most 

 naturalists, however, consider the pith only of secondary import- 

 ance ; though they allow its use in making good the nutritive 

 exhaustion which the rapid growth of young shoots never fails to 

 produce. 



Of the Buds. 



No part of the vegetable structure has been examined with 

 more accuracy than that of buds, (Gemrnce), from the time of 

 the faithful and diligent Grew, to that of the discriminating and 

 candid Knight, and yet it is very singular that little was known 

 of their physiology until the experiments and observations of the 

 last gentleman were made public. To him, therefore, we are 

 indebted for some of our most valuable knowledge on this 

 subject. 



A bud is that part which contains the rudiments of a plant, or 

 of a part of a plant, for a while in a latent state, tift^he'nimv of 

 the year, and other circumstances, favor their evolution. From 

 buds, then, an entire plant may be produced, if placed in 

 favorable circumstances, or only a branch, or leaves, or flowers. 

 We can, however, reckon no more than two kinds, those that 

 produce leaves, and those that produce flowers. There is the 

 closest analogy between these organs and bulbs ; so close, 

 indeed, that Mirbel, and some others, arrange them together. 

 Practical cultivators mark distinct characters peculiar to each 

 kind of bud. Those that produce leaves are small, long and 

 pointed ; the flower buds, again, are thick, short and round. It 

 appears probable that some unknown agents influence the 



