THE GARDEN. 



I. 



STKUCTURE AND GROWTH OP PLANTS, 



With what increased sstlsfaction are the common processes of manuring or transplanting 

 carried on, to say nothing of the more delicate operations of budding, grafting, and propagating 

 by layers, etc., when we are acquainted with the structure of the plants we are endeavoring to 

 control, nd comprehend the why and the wherefore of every step we pursue. — A. J. Downing. 



I.-GEEMINATION. 



VERY perfect and matured seed contains the 

 germ of a new plant of the species to which 

 it owes its own existence. If you separate 

 the two lobes of a bean, or other seed of a 

 similar character, you will discover, pressed 

 between them at the undivided or stem end, 

 or side, a minute kernel or bud. This, though a 

 mere point, as it were, contains the rudiments of two 

 or more undeveloped leaves, united by a solid or undi- 

 vided portion, called, in the language of botany, the 

 radicle^ and constitutes an embryo plant, holding within 

 itself all the elements of vegetable life. The commencement 

 of the vital action which produces the development of this 

 embryo is called germination. 



The conditions essential to germination are the presence of 

 moisture^ warmth^ and oxygen gas. 



In the absence of moisture, no effect toward germination is 

 produced by the presence of warmth and oxygen, or any other 

 gas. Moisture and oxygen gas, without warmth, are equally 



