136 (iLIMI'SES INTO PLANT-LIFE 



It requires a careful use of the microscope to 

 trace all that a bud contains ; I will there- 

 fore quote the words of a German naturalist 

 who dissected a horse-chestnut bud gathered in 

 winter, and found that it contained sixty flowers. 

 It would be interesting to select a terminal 

 flower-bud of this tree ; by taking it carefully to 

 pieces one might, with patience and using a 

 powerful lens (or a microscope if one is avail- 

 able), see for ourselves a good deal of what the 

 writer describes : — 



" Having removed the outer scales, seventeen 

 in number, cemented together by a gummy sub- 

 stance to render the bud waterpoof, I discovered 

 four leaves surrounding a spike of flowers, so 

 clearly visible when magnified that I not only 

 counted the number of flowers, but could discern 

 the pollen on the stamens." 



The winter covering of a bud, both the inner 

 and outer scales, are onl}' a temporary protection 

 in order to keep out moisture and keep in w^armth, 

 so that as the sun begins to gain power, the 

 gummy covering of the bud melts and yields 

 to the expanding pressure from within, when one 



