Method of growth. ^g 



one primitive cell, thus forming in the beginning, 

 cells alike so far as we can see, that we should have 

 the proper division of wood and bark and leaves, 

 with their wonderfully complex structure of cells 

 and vessels all arranged for the service of the tree 

 and with power to act so that each should do its 

 part in the complicated machinery of plant growth. 

 But the plan of the tree seems to need all this, and 

 the invisible agency, at the proper time, gives to 

 these cells of common origin the form, position and 

 property, which should make them a fit part of the 

 complex whole. When the proper time comes, 

 the buds all appear in mathematical order upon the 

 limbs, and some of those buds put forth flowers and 

 all the machinery of fruiting, as well as leaves. 

 Look at the thousands of trees and other plants 

 that adorn our fields and forests, and see the plan 

 of each and the skill with which that plan is execu- 

 ted in every outward organ — the plan and execu- 

 tion being the result of that principle within, which 

 secures these varied forms and processes through 

 the agency of matter and the physical forces, as the 

 engineers use power from the same water-wheel and 

 materials from the same store-house, to turn out the 

 diverse products of a varied industry, — cloth and 

 nails and chairs and guns, — according to the design 

 and skill of the workmen in combining the mate- 

 rials for some definite purpose. 



We may be told that one part of the plant 

 structure is produced by shortening an axis, and 

 another by the infolding and modification of a leaf, 

 and so on through all the morphology of the plant 



