( 52 ) 



Fig. 11. G H I is the half of the hard fliell of the Filbert. K L M 

 is the nut or kernel taken out of the fliell. G is that part of the 

 fliell which was united to the tree, in which part there is a very looie 

 or fpongy pallage through which the ligament of the nut or kernel 

 palfes, as G L, to convey the nutriment for the formation of the 

 young plant, and alfo a futlicicnt quantity of aliment to fupport it, 

 when the nut is fown or planted, until the root of that young plarrt 

 in the nut, has extended itfelf fo far out of the hard fhell as to reach 

 the earth. This figure alfo fliew^s that the fubftance, which through 

 the ligameht is conveyed for the fupport of the nut, does not at aU. 

 arife from the hard fhell, but that the ligament having a paflage 

 through the Ihell, conveys the nourifhmcnt from the tree itfelf. 



Thefc firings or ligaments, w^iereby the young plant and the rest 

 of the fubftance of feeds is nouriflied, have alfo coats or barks of 

 their own, and within this coat or bark in the ligament of a Filbert, 

 I think there are abo\^ an hundred fmall veflels, all which, as far 

 as I could fee, are formed of fibres in a twifled fhape, in like man- 

 ner as if one were to wind a piece of fmall copper wire round a pii:^ 

 and then draw out the pin from the wire, leaving it in the, form de- 

 lineated at^^. 1 2, A and B. 



It is worthy of confideration refpe(3:ing thefe ligaments, that in 

 almoll: all feeds the ligament is joined to that part of the nut or kernel', 

 from which the young plant will fhoot, as may be feen at fig. 1 3, 

 letter A, (which is a Filbert drawn fomewhat larger than the na- 

 tural fize, in order to fhew more eafily the courfe of the velfels pro- 

 ceeding from the ligament), in which figure the ligament takes its 

 courfe from A to B, and in its paflage fpreads itfelf into divers 

 branches, and thefe again into fmaller ones ; and thus fpread through 

 the whole nut, which hgament, or the veflels arifing from it tend 

 to the fame point, and finilh where they begim, that is, where the 

 young plant will be produced. 



I made a tranfverfe fedion of the ligament by which the Almond 

 is nouriftied, becaufe it is fomewhat thicker than that in the Filbert^ 



