24 The Garden. 



vanced stage of the flower, it follows that a fruit is also a kind 

 of branch." It has certainly the same organic connection with 

 the plant as other branches, and, like them, requires to be sup- 

 plied with food, without which it must perish. 



So long as a fruit retains its original green, foliaceous char- 

 acter, it is capable of performing, partially at least, the func- 

 tions of a leaf, decomposing carbonic acid, etc. A portion of 

 the food required for its maturation may therefore be derived, 

 by its own action, from the air ; but the greater part must be 

 prepared by the leaves from material furnished by the roots. 

 This shows the necessity of the healthy and regular action of 

 the leaves and roots in perfecting fruit, and the importance of 

 fruit being placed near the leaves, so that it can readily attract 

 the required nutriment from them. If you remove all the 

 leaves from a branch containing fruit, you stop the growth of 

 the latter almost as effectually as by separating it from the 

 stem. 



The juices furnished by the leaves undergo further altera- 

 tions by the vital forces of the fruit itself, and this alteration 

 varies according to the species. The fruit of the peach is 

 sweet, but there is no perceptible sweetness in its leaves ; and 

 the fruit of the fig is sweet and nutritious, while the leaves of 

 that plant are acrid and deleterious. 



Among the principal immediate causes of the changes which 

 occur in the secretions of fruits are heat and light. Fruits 

 produced in warm seasons are always much sweeter than those 

 which are matured in cold ones ; and the products of hot cli- 

 mates abound in sugar, while in those of cold climates acidity 

 prevails. 



The ripening of fruit is hastened by dryness, and retarded 

 by an excess of moisture. 



Seeds are affected by all the circumstances which affect the 

 fruit, which is created primarily for their nutrition and preser- 

 vation. The fruit attracts organizable matter from the leaves, 

 and the seeds attract it from the fruit. The better the fruit, 

 therefore, the more perfect are the seeds. 



