SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURE. 447 



the rose for the flower, the oak for the stem, the apple for the 

 envelop of the seed, flax for the bark, the mulberry for the 

 leaf. 



Now in these several cases, it is evident that the modes of 

 cultivation must differ so as to correspond with the several pro- 

 ducts sought for. Thus the mode of cultivation employed for 

 the purpose of procuring fine, pliable straw of wheat for Leg- 

 horn bonnets, must differ very much from that which is adopted 

 in order to produce a maximum of grain of the same plant. In- 

 dependently of otlier conditions, the food has great influence 

 on the products generated by a plant. Charcoal powder, when 

 given as food to a goose, produces an excessive enlargement of 

 the liver. Vegetable mould, largely supplied to potatoes when 

 growing, produces an abundance of starch, and makes them 

 mealy. Strong animal manure, on the other hand, diminishes the 

 quantity of starch, and makes them soapy. A large supply of 

 water applied to rice, when growing, makes the berry firm for 

 hulling ; a diminished supply makes it brittle. 



It is another general fact or law in the vegetable kingdom, 

 that like produces like, there being, however, a gradual improve- 

 ment or a gradual degeneracy, according to the conditions 

 attending the cultivation. There are indeed occasional excep- 

 tions to this law of descent, when varieties are produced, 

 whose characteristics also descend in obedience to the general 

 law. 



Another general fact or law in vegetable physiology, estab- 

 lished by science, is, that if the pollen of the flower of any 

 species be introduced into a flower of the same species, but of 

 a different variety, the seeds from this flower will give a plant 

 of a different variety still, that is, of a third variety. 



There is another general fact or principle established by 

 science, that plants can be acclimated, namely, taught to flourish 

 and bear fruit in climates north or south of their original 

 habitation. Thus, Indian corn, and the potato, by being culti- 

 vated north of their original homes have been improved, the one 

 in the seed, and the other in the root, though the growth of the 

 stalk may be somewhat impaired. 



Do you ask what use can be made of these laws or princi- 

 ples, established by science in vegetable physiology, as the 



