76 On the Reproduclion of Buds. 



not, in any instance, been proved ; and it is well known that 

 the roots, and trunk, and branches, of many species of trees 

 will, under proper inana<;ement, afford buds from every part 

 of their surfaces ; and therefore, if this hypothesis be well 

 founded, many millions of such germs must be annually 

 generated in every large tree, not one of which, in the or-- 

 dinary course of nature, will come into action : and as na- 

 ture, amidst all its exuberance, docs not abound in useless 

 productions, the opinions of this illustrious physiologist are, 

 in this case, probably erroneous. 



Other naturalists have supposed the buds, when repro- 

 duced, to spring from the plexus of vessels which consti- 

 tutes the internal bark ; and this opinion is, I believe, much 

 entertained by modern botanists : it nevertheless appears to 

 be unfounded, as the facts I shall .proceed to state will 

 evince. 



If the fruit-stalks of the seacale (cranile marilima) be cut 

 off near the ground in the spring, the medullary substance, 

 within that part of the stalk which remains attached to the 

 root, decays; and a cup is thus formed, in which water coir 

 lects in the succeeding winter. The sides of this cup con- 

 sist of a woody substance, which in its texture and office, 

 and mode of generation, agrees perfectly with the alburnum 

 of trees; and I conceive it to be as perfect alburnum as the 

 white wood of the oak or elm : and from the interior part of 

 this substance, within the cup, I have frequently observed 

 new buds to be generated in the ensuing spring, It is suf- 

 Hciently obvious that the buds in this case do not spring 

 from the bark ; but it is not equally evident that they might 

 not have sprung from some remains of the medulla. 



In the autumn of 1802 I discovered that the potatoe pos- 

 sessed a similar power of reproducing its buds. Some plants 

 of this species had been set, rather late in the preceding 

 spring, in very dry ground, where, through want of mois- 

 ture, they vegetated very feebly; and the portions of the old 

 roofs remained sound and entire till the succeeding autumn. 

 Being then moistened by rain, many small tubers were ge- 

 nerated on the surfaces made by the knife in dividing the 

 roots into, cuttings ; and the buds of these, in many instances, 



eloncratcd 



