183S1 



FARMERS' R E G I S 1' E R , 



685 



n the knives, oral least ilie <irealor [)art, it lollows 

 that secretions cannot lake place il' leaves arc des- 

 troyed. 



141. And as this secretiniT property depends 

 upon s|)eciHc vital powers connected with the de- 

 com!)osition of carbonic acid, and called into ac- 

 tion only when the leaves are li-cely ex|)osed to 

 lii^ht and air (279. J, it also lollows that the quan- 

 tity oi' secreiion will he in direct proportion to the 

 quantity of leaves, and to their iree exposure to 

 light and air. 



142. The usual position of leaves is spiral, at 

 reijularly increasing or diminishing distances; they 

 are then said to be alternate. 



143. But if the space, or the axis, that separates 

 two leaves, is reduced to nothing, at alternate in- 

 tervals, they become opposite. 



144. And if the spaces that separate several 

 leaves be reduced to nothing, they become verti- 

 cillate. 



145. Opposite and verticillate leaves, therefore 

 differ from alternate leaves only in the spaces that 

 separate them being reduced to nothing. 



VI. Floivers. 



146. Flowers consist of two principal parts, viz. 

 Floral Envelopes (149.) and Sexes (vii.) 



147. Of these, the former constitute what is 

 popularly considered the flower ; although the 

 latter are the only parts that are absolutely essen- 

 tial to it. 



148. However different they may be in appear- 

 ance from leaves, they are all formed of those or- 

 gans in a more or less modified state, and altered 

 in a greater or less degree by mutual adhesion. 



149. The Floral Envelopes consist of two or 

 more whorls of transformed leaves; of which part 

 is calyx, its leaves being called sepals, and part co- 

 rolla, its leaves being called petals. 



150. The Sexes are also transformed leaves. 



cm.) 



151. The calyx is always the outermost, the 

 corolla is always the innermost whorls; and if 

 there is hut one floral envelope, that one is calyx. 



152. Usually the calyx is green, and the corol- 

 la colored and more highly developed; but the re- 

 verse is frequently the case, as in Fuchsia, Ribes 

 sanguineum, &c. 



153. A Flower being, then, an axis surrounded 

 by leaves, it is in reality a stunted branch; that is, 

 one the growth of which is checked, and its pow- 

 er of elongation destroyed. 



154. That Flowers are stunted branches is 

 proved, firstly, by all their parts, especially the 

 most external, occasionally reverting to the state 

 of ordinary leaves ; secondly, by their parts being 

 often transformed into each other; and thirdly, by 

 the whorls of flower-buds being dislocated and ac- 

 tually converted into branches, whenever any 

 thinij occurs to stimulate them excessively. 



155. Their most essential distinctive character 

 consists in the buds at the axillte of their leaves 

 being usually dormant, while those in the axilla? 

 of ordmary leaves are unusually active. 



156. For this reason, while Leaf-buds can be 

 used for the purpose of propagation, flower-buds 

 cannot usually be so employed. 



157. Being stunted branches, their position on 

 the stem is the same as that of developed branches. 



158. And as there is in all plants a very great 

 ditt'erence in thedevelopement of leaf-buds, some 



Vol. V— 74 



growing readily into branche.--, others only unfold- 

 ing their leaves without elongating, and many re- 

 maining altoirclher dormant, it follows that flower- 

 buds may form upon plants of whatever age, 

 and in whatever slate. 



159. But to produce a general formation of 

 flower-buds, it is necessary that there should be 

 some general pretlisposing constitutional cause, in- 

 dependent of accidental circumstances. 



160. This predisposing cause is the accumula- 

 tion of sap and of secreted matter. 



161. Therelbre, whatever tends to retard the 

 fiee flow of sap, and causes it to accumulate, will 

 cause the production of flower-buds, or fertility. 



162. And on the other hand, whatever tends 

 to produce excessive vigor, causes the dispersion 

 of sap, or prevents its elaboration, and causes ste- 

 rility. 



163. Transplantation with a partial destruction 

 of roots, age, or high temperature accompanied 

 by a dry atmosphere, training obliquely or in an 

 inverted direction, a constant destruction of the 

 extremities of young growing branches, will all 

 cause an accumulation of sap, and secretions; and 

 consequently all such circumstances are favorable 

 to the production of flower-buds. 



164. But a richly manured soil, high tempera- 

 ture, with great atmospheric humidity, or an un- 

 interrupted flow of sap, are all causes of exces- 

 sive vigor, and are consequently unfavorable to 

 the production of flower-buds. 



165. There is a tendency in many flowers to 

 enlarge, to alter their colors, or to chanse their 

 appearance by a transformation and multiplication 

 of their parts, whenever they have been raised 

 from seeds for several generations, or domesti- 

 cated. 



166. The causes of this tendency are probably 

 various, but being entirely unknown, no certain 

 rules for the production of varieties in flowers 

 can be laid down, except by the aid of hybridi- 

 zing. (210. ji 



167. It often happens that a single branch pro- 

 duces flowers different from those produced on 

 other branches. This is technically called a sport. 



168. As every bud on that branch h4»s the same 

 specific vital principle (113.^, a hud taken from 

 such a branch will produce an individual, the 

 whole of whose branches will retain the charac- 

 ter of the sport. 



169. Consequently, by buds, an accidental va- 

 riety may be made permanent, if the plant that 

 sports be of a firm woody nature. (98.) 



170. As flowers feed upon the prepared sap in 

 their vicinity, the greater the abundance of this 

 prepared iood, the more perfect will be their devel- 

 opement. 



171. Or the fewer the llowers on a given branch, 

 the more food they will severally have to nourish 

 them, and the more perlbct will they be. 



172. The beauty of flowers will therefore be in- 

 creased either by "an abundant supply of fbod, or 

 by a diminution of their numbers (thinning), or 

 by both. <The business of the pruner is to cause 

 these operations. 



173. The beauty of flowers depends upon (heir 

 free exposure to light and air, because it consists 

 in the richness of their colors, and their colors 

 are only formed by the action of those two agents 

 (281.; 



174. Hence Flowers produced in dark or shady 



