16 ON BREEDING AND RAISING VEGETABLES. 



" for example, the gourd, pompion, melon, cu- 

 *' cumber, and all of that race, have blossoms 

 " distinctly male and female upon the same 

 " plant : the male blossoms may be distinguished 

 " from the others, in that they have not any 

 " pistil or rudiment of fruit about them, but 

 *' have only a large thrum, covered with dust, 

 ** in their middle ; the female blossom of these 

 ** has a pistilium within the petals or flower- 

 *' leaves, and the rudiment of their fruit always 

 " apparent at the bottom of the flower before 

 *' it opens. And so in like manner all nut-bear- 

 *' ing and mast-bearing trees have their catkins, 

 " or male . blossoms, remote from the female 

 ** parts. 



" The oak, for example, which blossoms in 

 ** May, has its male parts distant from the 

 " acorns. We find little strings of farinaceous 

 " flowers in great abundance, remote from the 

 *' rudiments of the acorns or fruit. 



** When we view with a good microscope the 

 " male dust of one small plant, we find every 

 *' particle of it to be of the same size and figure. 

 " But in some cases it is of two colours, as in 

 ** the tulip, where it is yellow and blue. 



" I shall proceed to demonstrate part of this 

 " system. I made my first experiment upon the 

 " tulip ; which I chose rather than any other 



