392 CONSERVATIVE ORGANS, [LECT. VIII. 



the part on which they appear, it will be at least 

 rendered improbable, To effect this, we have 

 only to saw out a portion of any trunk or branch 

 on which a young bud appears ; and carrying our 

 incision down to the pith, and by carefully slicing 

 the portion horizontally, or in a right angle to the 

 surface of the stem, till we divide the bud to its 

 centre, we shall find a white line extending from 

 it, through every concentric layer of the wood, 

 till it touches the medullary sheath. Thus, in the 

 wedge, represented in Plate 7, fig. 5, cut from 

 the trunk of a Lilac twenty years old, we can 

 trace the buds a. b. to their very point, which ter- 

 minates at the pith of the plant ; and the same is 

 the case with the three buds a. b. c. of fig. 6, 

 in the same plate: for, although a. appears to 

 spring from the surface of the third circle of the 

 stem when examined with the naked eye, yet, un- 



^ 



der the microscope (see fig. 7), it is seen to stretch 

 to the medullary sheath, in conjunction with its 

 fellows. It is argued, however, that if an Oak, 

 or any old tree, be cut down in winter, leaving 

 the root in the ground and a foot or two of the 

 trunk, we shall find on the margin of the stump 

 multitudes of buds protruding in the following 

 spring. I admit the fact; but deny the con- 

 clusion inferred from it, that these buds originate 

 on the surface where they appear ; for, if they do 

 not all push out on the same plane, which is 



