WORCHSTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1879 



perpetuation of the species. Lastly, must be considered the 

 improvement of varieties and the obtaining of new and desirable 

 sorts. This last can be made plainer by a brief study of the 

 history of some of the more useful garden plants, and of the 

 methods by which new varieties have been originated. This 

 course of lectures will treat only of flowering plants ; that 

 is, of the plants which produce seeds having germs, and there- 

 fore the subject of the flowerless plants, like mosses, moulds, 

 and ferns, will be left untouched. 



I. From Seed to Flower. 



A seed consists of a germ, or embryo plant, provided with a 

 sufficient store of food, and having integuments for its protec- 

 tion. The germ foreshadows the future plant, and usually 

 possesses, ready formed, a minute stem tipped with a root and 

 seed leaves, between which is held a bud. All these parts are 

 rudimentary, often existing as the merest hints of what can 

 grow from them. Nevertheless, the germ can be subjected to 

 serious mutilation without utterly destroying it. Extended 

 experiments have shown that the embryo possesses a remarka- 

 ble power of repair. (These experiments upon the ability of 

 seeds of different plants to resist injury were described in 

 detail, and the following" conditions of germination were dis- 

 cussed, chiefly with reference to the planting and care of garden 

 seeds.) The conditions of germination are moisture, warmth, 

 and oxygen. The conditions which depend upon the seed 

 itself, and which may rather be called requisites to speedy and 

 healthful germination, are ist, a proper degree of ripeness ; 2d, 

 freshness ; 3d, soundness. (The practical bearings of these 

 questions upon the length of time during which seeds remain 

 suitable for use, and upon other practical topics, were stated at 

 considerable length.)* If any of the more common garden 

 seedlings are compared at different stages of their growth, they 

 will be found to be made up of roots, stem, leaves, and a few 

 delicate plant-hairs. " Now these are all the parts that any 

 flowering plant ever has ; the thorns and tendrils, and showy 



* Part of the phraseology of the outlines here given has been taken from Dr. 

 Goodale's work, "Concerning a Few Common Plants." 



