66 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



As we rise in the scale of organic life the asexual system of reproduc- 

 tion seems to gradually change into somewhat diverse forms ; but it is 

 retained even after the sexual reproduction appears ; and it occurs as a 

 means of extension in all large plants, whether spore-bearing or seed- 

 bearing. 



Every bud, whether appearing in the axil of a leaf or adventitiously, 

 is an asexual reproduction, and has its origin in a single unfecundated 

 cell, while it possesses its own individuality as clearly as if it were, what 

 it may under proper circumstances become, a separate plant. 



That the bud or the spore, the offspring of one parent, built up out 

 of that one parent by a simple continuation of all the functions of growth 

 of that parent, and only apparently beginning a new or individual life 

 when detached, should copy its parent in every one of its attributes and 

 traits of character, would seem a foregone conclusion. But long observa- 

 tion and experience have proved that even such closely related progeny 

 as buds will occasionally depart from the forms and qualities of the parent, 

 and strike out in a comparatively new course of life and development. It 

 will not be necessary to prove, by adducing numerous instances, that bud 

 variation exists ; for every observing horticulturist knows of it, and has 

 seen it. Seldom a season passes but what the flower border will produce 

 clear and conclusive evidence of bud variation, although it is much rarer 

 among the fruits, and still rarer among ornamental trees, while in plants 

 which are yet in a state of nature it is rarest. 



It must be some influence which works at the time of the formation 

 of the original cell which is to become the bud, or antecedent to that 

 time, that causes bud variation. Science ignores chance, and inquires 

 for causes and effects ; and here we seem to be forced to make a choice 

 between but two probable causes : the one an act of special creation ; the 

 other, impressions upon the vital force of the parent. If we are weary of 

 investigation, or afraid or incompetent to pursue research, we may relieve 

 ourselves of responsibility by saying : "It was so made by Divine Wis- 

 dom," and let it go at that. But most of us do not care to rest at this 

 point ; for that wisdom seems to be most truly Divine which governs by 

 perfect, original laws, rather than by special acts. The exact character 

 of the impressions which may be made upon the parent, or how impres- 

 sions are made upon the parent, we may not know ; but there are both 

 logic and an abundant array of experience to show that impressions upon 

 parents do produce effects upon offspring. Witness the fact that unripe 

 pea seed produced a variation in favor of earliness ; and the fact that a 

 change to a drier climate has given rise to young plants with restricted 

 evaporative surface (dwarfed plants) ; and the fact that high culture and 

 increased nutrition give us young plants with lustier growths, finer fruits, 

 more gorgeous blossoms, and less hardiness. Even the wheat plant — not 

 too prone to sport — if taken to the almost perfect wheat climate of the 

 Pacific slope, soon develops into such wheat as we here dare not hope to 

 produce; and then again, if that splendid grain be returned to us, it 

 blights and rusts almost invariably, thus showing that its exalted and 

 perfect state in the far West was reached at the expense of hardiness. 



