OF BUDS. 121 



2, in which the various forms of buds, and the different 

 disposition of the leaves within them, are illustrated by 

 numerous examples. The Abbe de Ramatuelle had 

 taken up this subject with ^reat zeal at Paris, about 

 twenty years ago, but the result of his inquiries has not 

 reached me. 



Dr. Darwin, Phytologia, sect. 9, has many acute ob- 

 servations on the physiology of buds, but he appears to 

 draw the analogy too closely between them and the em- 

 bryo of a seed, or the chick in the egg. By buds indeed, 

 as we well know, plants are propagated, and in that 

 sense each bud is a separate being, or a young plant in 

 itself; but such propagation is only the extension of 

 an individual, and not a reproduction of the species as 

 by seed. Accordingly, all plants increased by buds, 

 cuttings, layers or roots, retain precisely the peculiar 

 qualities of the individual to which they owe their origin. 

 If those qualities differ from what are common to the 

 species, sufficiently to constitute what is called a varie- 

 ty, that variety is perpetuated through all the progeny 

 thus obtained. This fact is exemplified in a thousand 

 instances, none more notorious than the different kinds 

 of Apples, all which are varieties of the common Crab, 

 Pyriis Mains, Engl. Bot. t. 179 ; and 1 cannot but as- 

 sent to Mr. Knight's opinion, that each individual thus 

 propagated has only a determinate existence, in some 

 cases longer, in others shorter ; from which cause many 

 valuable varieties of apples and pears, known in former 

 times, are now worn out, and others are dwindling awaj^ 

 before our eyes. New varieties of Cape Geraniums, 



