FERTILIZATION AND CROSS-FERTILIZATION. 23 



Mr. Moore thought it best to spread the manure, if j'ou manure 

 highly. The plants send down roots at every joint, and when the 

 main root was destroyed these roots would often enable the plant 

 to carr}^ a full crop. This was an argument for spreading the ma- 

 nure broadcast. 



Mr. Pierce said that he spread part, as recommended in the 

 essaj' — eight cords to the acre — and used a shovelful of dry hen 

 manure in the hill. 



Mr. Hill would not apply hen manure without composting. He 

 thought a shovelful of clear hen dung in a hill would destroy the 

 seed. 



Mr. Pierce said that last j-ear he applied a shovelful in the hill 

 with good effect. He was careful to cover with an inch or more 

 of soil, making a hill a foot and a half broad. 



MEETING FOR DISCUSSION. 



Saturday, Januarj' 20, 1877. 



William C. Strong, Chairman of the Committee on Publication 

 and Discussion, presided, and introduced George L. Goodale, 

 Assistant Professor of Vegetable Physiology in Harvard University, 

 who delivered a lecture, of which the substance is here given, on 



Fertilization and Cross-Fertilization. 



Professor Goodale commenced by describing the structure of a 

 flower, which he illustrated with a large model of a pink, show- 

 ing first the axis ; next the bracts or modified leaves surrounding 

 the lower part of the cal^'x, but aflbrding no great degree of 

 protection ; then the protecting organs — first the cal^'x or cup — the 

 word calj^x being derived from a Greek word signifying ' ' cup ; " 

 and second, the corolla — the name of which is of Latin derivation, 

 signifying "crown" or " garland." All these and other organs of 

 the flower are modifications of leaves. For the recognition of this 

 principle we are indebted not to a professional botanist but to the 

 poet Goethe. It gave us a clue through all possible labjainths of 

 form, and led to the study of morpholog}' — the science of form — 

 which has been called the soul of natural historv. 



