BUDS. 153 



the central one being larger than the others. Their 

 form is not unlike that of a Pear, and their organization 

 exhibits a happy combination of utility and beauty, 

 well meriting the attention of the student. On their 

 exterior surface we find a series of concave scales, 

 enclosing each other like the tiles of a house. The 

 outer of these are hard and dry, the other more delicate 

 and resembling in their texture the leaves which they 

 enclose. These scales are frequently connected to- 

 gether by a resinous substance, which water is unabl e 

 to penetrate, and this armature is particularly obvious 

 on the large buds of the Horse-Chesnut. Having re- 

 moved the scales we find the leaves or flowers, or per- 

 haps both enclosed in down, which like the fur of ani- 

 mals is designed as a security against the influence of 

 cold. 



The buds of the Walnut and Horse-Chesnut are un- 

 usually large, and the examination of either of these 

 will enable us to form an accurate idea of their general 

 structure and usej one of the latter was dissected by a 

 German botanist for whose patience I have great res- 

 pect, at the time when it did not exceed the size of a 

 pea. He found it covered externally by about 20 

 scales, which were cemented together by the resinous 

 adhesive substance so conspicuous in the buds of that 

 tree. Within the scales he found the embryo envel- 

 oped in down, and pursuing the inquiry he distinctly 

 saw twenty-eight leaves surrounding a spike of sixty 

 flowers. The scales, resin and down, all conspire to 

 produce the same effect, though the first appears par- 

 ticularly designed to guard against external injury from 

 birds and animals, while the down serves as a protection 

 from cold, and the resin from moisture and air. 



United, they enable the tender embryo to brave the 



