244 Human Physiology. 



sions. The seeds of plants contain albuminous and oily 

 matter, destined to be the first food of the young plant, and 

 which also, in such seeds as those of wheat, barley, rice, peas, 

 beans, &c., furnish important stores of food for men and animals. 

 If we examine such seeds, we shall find the real germ to be a 

 mere speck, a microscopic cell, which must, however, contain 

 potentially the future plant or tree, and all it is capable of 

 producing; must contain form, character, colour, odour, and the 

 directive or formative principle which governs its whole life and 

 development. And this character of the plant, observe, 

 resides in the two elements, male and female, which join to 

 produce it, for by bringing together these elements, gardeners 

 are able to produce all kinds of crosses, hybrids, and varieties. 



The reproduction or continuation of the species of plants by 

 this process is called true generation; but this is not the only 

 mode by which vegetable life is continued or extended. The 

 bulb of our crocus which sends up a stalk, leaves, and flower 

 also throws out from its side fibres which form new bulbs, 

 which the following season separate from the parent bulb, and 

 themselves produce bulbs and flowers. 



Take now a tuberous plant the potato. It has its pretty 

 flowers, and produces balls full of seeds which will produce 

 new plants and varieties; but at the same time there grow out 

 from the roots great tubers, and on these are buds which will grow 

 into perfect plants, producing in turn seeds and tubers. The 

 strawberry has also a double method of propagation. It pro- 

 duces flowers and seeds, but it also throws out long vines, 

 which at intervals send down roots on which grow plants, and 

 so on until a whole field is covered with them. 



We imitate these processes of nature in multiplying plants 

 and trees of one making many. Ladies cut slips of geraniums, 

 roses, and other plants, placing them in pots of moist sand or 

 earth, when the covered buds send out roots, and those exposed 

 to the light expand into leaves. The Chinese multiply fruit 



