1G2 STATE HORTICULTURAL bOCIETY. 



crude sap into tlie trunk, which conveys it to the leaves, which are the work- 

 shops of the plant body. The trunk and main branches also supjwrt and 

 hold out the young branches, which put forth the leaves. The assimilated or 

 digested sap passes from the leaves to all growing parts of the plant, and a 

 deposit is made where most needed. If a branch is uot much exposed to winds 

 the base of it has a certain support or certain amount of nourishment; so with 

 the trunk of a tree. If the base of a branch or the main trunk is much 

 exposed to the winds and storms, a much thicker deposit of food is made 

 there. The winds give a tree exercise, which seems good to help niake it 

 strong. Our toughest wood comes from trees growing in exposed places. 



There is strengtli in union, and in attempting union there is likely to be 

 some discord. The limbs of a tree are all the time striving with each other to 

 see which sliall have the most room and the most sunshine. Wiiile some 

 perish in the attempt, or meet with only very indifferent success, the strongest 

 of the strongest buds survive. 



A tree is soinewhat like a community of polyps which are attached to each 

 other. By the way, a polyp, or coral, is not an insect, and does not toil like a 

 bee or ant to gather stores and heap up a mound in the sea. A polyp simply 

 eats and grows, and the mounds in the sea are the combined accumulations of 

 many skeletons of polyps. 



On the coast of South Carolina is an animal called Kenilla. It is about two 

 inches in diameter when expanded, and not far from a flattened sphere. It is 

 a soft fleshy mass, consisting of a sack with one slender foot, which extends 

 into the sand, Over the top of the animal are 100 or 200 little polyps, 

 each of which lias its own arms, its own mouth and stomach. Each mouth 

 eats all it can get, and besides supporting its own body, pours a portion of the 

 digested mass into the general cavity for the general good. A part also goes 

 from the general body to support some of the unfortunate polyps not finding 

 enough to eat. Each individual is here taxed just in proportion to his success 

 in life. This is a good model for 'any State or nation. 



A^ain, all these polyps own one general body which owns one foot. They 

 must all agree as to when and how and where this foot is to be moved, or else 

 there will be no motion forward. 



It has often occurred to me that if our theologians knew more about the 

 structure and growth of some of the lower animals, and the plan on which 

 plants are constructed, they would put much less stress on what constitutes an 

 individual. In this case there would be less disagreement between Unitarians 

 and Trinitarians. There is much difficulty in determining what constitutes 

 an individual in plants or some of the animals. 



A phytomer in the higher plants probably conies as near as wo can get to an 

 individual. 



The structure of the stem of a tree is quite complicated, and my time is too 

 short to speak of the details. 



Instead of the oak, I have an illustration of the box-elder, wliich is some- 

 what simpler. Here is an illustration showing a cross section and a vortical 

 section of a stem when one year old. It is composed of pith, wood, and bark. 

 The i)ith is composed of thin-walled cells, wliicli are not far from spherical 

 in shape. The wood cells arc mostly long, with thick walls, and have tapering 

 extremities which over-lap each other. Among them are some very large and 

 long cavities, called vessels, which were once separate cells. The ends of 

 these can be seen with the naked eye in oaks and chestnuts, and are often 



