306 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



mic substances, are first produced in the leaf, and thence transferred to the 

 various localities, where they are needed in the process of growth. 



THE LEAF. 



To facilitate and control the absorption and exhalation of gases and aqueous 

 vapor, leaves are furnished with breathing-pores or stomates, which open under 

 the stimulus of light and moisture, and close in darkness, or when scantily 

 supplied with water. These stomates are about twice as numerous on the 

 under as on the upper side of the squash-leaf, and the total number is about 

 one hundred and fifty thousand to the square inch, or more than one hundred 

 millions on each large leaf. One leaf of the great water lily, Victoria regia, 

 nine feet in diameter, contains about twenty-four hundred millions of stomates 

 on its upper side, and none on its under surface, where they would be useless. 



CARNIVOEOUS PLANTS. 



During the past year much has been written and said about carnivorous 

 plants, which catch great numbers of insects for the apparent purpose of feed- 

 ing upon them. When a fly alights on the leaf of a Dioncea, the two halves 

 close upon it and hold it fast until consumed, when they open for another. 

 The leaf of a species of Drosera, in New Jersey, is said to have the power of 

 moving towards an insect, fastened within half an inch of it, and feeding upon 

 it. The pitcher-shaped leaves of Sarracenia variolaris not only seems to 

 possess the power of enticing insects to climb from the ground to the inside of 

 their pitchers, by secreting a vertical line of honey on the outside, and also a 

 line around the edge of the cup, but they prevent their escape by an ingenious 

 arrangement of hairs, which continually force them downward as they attempt 

 to fly out. When they thus reach the bottom of their prison they come in 

 contact with a fluid which first paralyzes them and then hastens their decay 

 and absorption. 



CLIMBING PLANTS. 



Not less wonderful are the instinctive movements by which climbing plants 

 seek for, and attach themselves to, a support. Twining vines, like the hop, 

 the bean, and the morning-glory, exhibit a revolving movement of their ex- 

 tremities, fintil they come in contact with some object around which to coil. 

 Each species has its own peculiar direction, from which most of them never 

 vary. A few, like the hop, wind from the right upward, towards the left, mov- 

 ing like the hands of a watch, but most, like the bean, move in an opposite 

 direction. The squash, however, is not a twining plant, but climbs by means 

 of tendril?. Nevertheless, the tip of a growing vine revolves continually from 

 left over to right, in evident search for a support. 



INSTINCT OF PLANTS. 



Mr. J. J. H. Gregory informs us that if a shingle be set into the ground near 

 the tip of a growing squash-vine, it will, in a day or two be seen turning 

 towards it; and that, if the shingle be removed to the opposite side, the direc- 

 tion of the vine will again be changed. He also states that he has observed a 

 squash-vine, after running along on the ground ten or twelve feet, and then 

 passing under the branches of a tree which were four feet above it, to stop 

 and turn upward towards the branches. After growing in this direction till it 

 could no longer sustain itself, the vine fell to the ground ; but instead of pro- 

 ceeding horizontally, it again rose into the air, again to fail. A third effort was 

 made before the plant was willing to give up and trail humbly on the earth. 



The end of the vine under observation was constantly elevated to the sash- 



