STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 165 



food have been greatly changed by him from the wild condition, 

 in which the richly-stored, but small-sized, grains were clearly 

 useful to the plant only for its perpetuation. We have said seeds 

 were primarily for the purpose of reproduction by generation to 

 distinguish this method from that bv division, such as occurs in 

 artificial cuttings, grafting, &c, and in nature, by runners, bulbs, 

 &c. This peculiarity of reproduction by seeds, is of prime im- 

 portance, but, probably, only because of the mode of their pro- 

 duction from fertilized flowers, hence we shall turn to our first 

 subject. 



Many have supposed that the fundamental and most essential 

 offices of seeds are to rapidly multiply the individuals of a species 

 from generation to generation, and to preserve the latter during 

 winter, or when the growing plant could not survive. These are, 

 indeed, important services, but they are just as well performed 

 in some cases by other means, with greater economy. Flowers 

 are exhaustive growths. The bulblets of the Tiger Lily are, for 

 these purposes, as good as seeds, and since no flowers are 

 required, the method of production ought to be better for the 

 plant, if, indeed, the seed is not otherwise useful. Top-onions 

 afford another instance; the brittle branches of some willows 

 give us another, not to speak of runners, stolons, bulbs, &c. — a 

 long list of various forms. 



But, since hundreds and thousands of plants are normally 

 reproduced from seeds, notwithstanding the expense of the 

 flowers, to one otherwise naturally multiplied, there must be 

 some good reason for it, which we should be able to find. Can 

 we do this? 



The only marked difference in the production of a seed from 

 that of a bulb, is in the fact that the former is a product of fer- 

 tilization, while the latter is not. Can we find why this should 

 make the seed specially valuable? The most striking fact in the 

 organic world is the differentiation of individuals in regard to 

 sex. This differentiation occurs in nearly all animals, and in 

 many plants. But many other plants, and vastly the greater 

 number, have the sexual separation only in the organs of the 

 flower. If sex separation is the important thing its prevalence 

 indicates, why should not most plants also have this distinction? 

 By looking again, and gaining better knowledge of flowers, we do 

 find an explanation of the apparent anomally. The fact is, 

 flowers, though possessing both kinds of organs, are most won- 

 derfully fitted for cross-fertilization, thus making the rule general. 

 We must, therefore, amend the first sentence of this paper, if we 

 would be critically exact ! Flowers have for their primary office 

 the production of seed tl trough cross-fertilization . 



Here, then, we arrive at the marked difference between the 

 seed in general, and the sexual reproduction forms. With this 

 explanation, our second proposition assumes a higher meaning, 



