1856.] Vegctahle TltaJify. kkk 



travelers have even believed that thej had found in the forests of 

 Brazil living trees that must have been born in the days of Homer. 

 But here again inevitable accidents interfere, and the trees are pre- 

 vented from being immortal. 



Species, then, are eternal ; and so would be the individuals sprung 

 from their seeds, if it were not for accidental circumstances. 



But plants are multiplied otherwise than by seeds. The Hya- 

 cinth and the Garlic propagate naturally, not only by seeds, but also 

 by the perpetual separation of their own limbs, known under the 

 name of bulbs, their bulbs undergoing a similar natural process of 

 dismemberment ; and so on for ever. The Potato plant belongs to 

 the same class. Another plant bends its branches to the ground ; 

 the branches put forth roots, and as soon as these roots are estab- 

 lished, the connection between parent and oflfspring is broken, and 

 a new plant springs into independent existence. Of this we find fa- 

 miliar examples in the Strawberry and the Willow. Man turns his 

 property to account by artificial processes of multiplication ; one 

 tree he propagates by layers, another by cuttings planted in the 

 ground. Going a step further he inserts a cutting of one individual 

 upon the stem of some other individual of the same species, under 

 the name of a bud or a scion, and thus obtains a vegetable twin. 



It is not contended, for there is nothing to show, that these arti- 

 ficial productions are more short-lived than either parent, provided 

 the constitution of the two individuals is in perfect accordance. 

 There is not the smallest evidence— it has not even been conjectured— 

 that if a seedling Apple tree is cut into two parts, and these parts 

 are reunited by grafting, the duration of the tree will be shorter 

 than it would have been in the absence of the operation. 



It is nevertheless believed by many, that the races of some cultivat- 

 ed plants have but a brief duration, provided they are multiplied 

 otherwise than by seeds. No one indeed pretends that the Garlic of 

 Ascalon has only a short life, although it has been thus propagated 

 from the time when it bore i\ie name of Shummin, and fed the la- 

 borers at the Pyramids; nor do we know that the bulb-bearing Lily 

 has been supposed to have less inherent vigor than if it were multi- 

 plied by seeds instead of bulbs. It is only among certain kinds of 

 plants that exceptions to the great natural law of vegetation are sup- 

 posed to exist. It is thought that although the wild Potato possesses 

 indefinite vitality, yet that the varieties of it which are brought into 

 cultivation pass their lives circumscribed within very narrow limits ; 



