480 CASUALTIES OF VEGETABLES. CHAP. XII. 



though it may well be doubted whether this deno- 

 mination is correct. 



Mr. Knight's experiments were now extended to 

 woody plants, a number of which he raised in the 

 spring of 1802, from seeds of the Apple, Pear, and 

 Plum-tree, and cut down in the autumn to the col- 

 lar, exposing at the same time part of the root. In 

 the beginning of the following spring, a number of 

 small protuberances were observed on the bark of 

 the exposed roots, which were found to be occa- 

 sioned by small processes issuing from the albur- 

 num. They were incipient buds, and were deve- 

 loped as the spring advanced, forming shoots similar 

 in every respect to those which might have been 

 expected from the stem that was cut down. Ex- 

 periments that were made upon the stem and root 

 of aged trees gave the same result, establishing, as 

 Mr. Knight thinks, the position that the alburnum 

 possesses the power of organizing and regenerating 

 buds. 



But this after all is not much different from the 

 doctrine of the pre-organized germes of Du Hamel ; 

 and certainly not quite so convenient. For the 

 germes of Du Hamel are always ready against the 

 occurrence of any accident ; whereas those of Mr. 

 Knight are manufactured out of the alburnum only 

 after the accident has occurred. 



But is it not singular that buds thus regenerated 

 never contain or produce either flower or fruit ? Per- 

 haps it is because the fruit bud requires more time 



