232 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTUKE. 



most common is that of buds, which consist of a minute and undeveloped stem 

 covered with equally minute and undeveloped leaves, and usually enclosed in 

 some protecting envelope. These buds as a rule remain for a greater or less 

 period in a dormant state until they are surrounded by favoring conditions, 

 when they throw off the protecting envelope and speedily develop into branches. 

 While in this condition they require almost no food or moisture, so they may be 

 severed from the source of trees, — the root, — without danger, and then can be 

 easily moved from place to place, and if when surrounded by favoring condi- 

 tions they are so situated that they can immediately obtain needed nourishment, 

 will grow as freely as if on the parent stem. We take advantage of this in 

 budding, in which we simply remove one of these mature and dormant buds 

 and place it in such connection Avith the circulating nourishment of the stock 

 that it may absorb and appropriate some to its own use. Or in some cases, as 

 that of the currant, where there is a good supply of food stored in the stem, 

 we remove it and place it in the damp earth, where it exists upon this food 

 until it can form roots of its own, and tlius become a j)erfect plant. 



If, then, we can secure to these dormant buds a supply of nourishment either 

 within themselves or so that it can be immediately available when needed, the 

 problem of the easy distribution of plants is solved. Xow, just this result is 

 obtained in the seed. We all know that buds vary greatly from the long scaly 

 ones of the beech, the large plump ones of the slippery elm, the minute and 

 downy covered ones of the sumac, so that the form, size, color, or covering of 

 the bud is not essential. The leaves vary even more than the buds. These 

 buds are usually found in the axils of the leaves, but are sometimes found in 

 other positions, as for instance in a plant called Bryophyllum prolijerum, the 

 leaves of which when placed on the damp earth will start a bud from each notch, 

 and if left undisturbed these buds, nourished by the thick fleshy leaf, speedily 

 take root and become perfect plants. Now, as the shape of the leaf is imma- 

 terial, suppose in another case we have a different shaped leaf, which, instead 

 of remaining expanded, closes upon itself until the two edges of the leaf touch 

 and become united. Now, suppose buds be distributed along these united edges 

 of the leaf, which, instead of starting immediateh', as on the bryophyllum, 

 remain dormant like other buds, in which case they would be deprived of the 

 necessary food for starting by the drying up or decay of the leaf. So we must 

 provide some which wiU remain unchanged during the dormant condition of 

 the bud, but become immediatelv available when favoring conditions cause the 

 bud to start. To make sure of tliis food being ready just when the buds need 

 it, and not before, we luust store it either in or around the bud that it may be 

 subjected to the same influences. In this case we store it in the two outer 

 leaves, and the supply being large while the leaves are small, it so distorts them 

 that they lose all resemblance to leaves and become simple hemispherical masses. 

 Most dormant buds are protected by scales or otherwise, and to furnish this pro- 

 tection we enclose our bud in a soft and pliable covering, and this again in 

 another thicker, harder, and better fitted to protect it from injury. This done, 

 and as you see, we have a simple jjea-pod filled with peas. It does not compli- 

 cate the matter in the least that this enveloping leaf upon wliich the buds or 

 peas grow is called a carpel ; the outer coat the primine, the inner the secun- 

 dine, the two food gorged leaves cotyledons, the short stem a radicle, the rest 

 of the bud a plumule, and the whole bud an embryo. The whole processes of 

 seed formation as compared with that of buds are just as simple as I have 

 described them. In some cases the food is stored around instead of within the 



