AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 67 



of the old root, and largely by the production upon the stem, 

 at the bases of the leaves, of minute but perfect bulbs, which at 

 first appear like small black buds. These are gradually loosen- 

 ed from the stem, and in due time, by throwing out a single 

 root, cant themselves over on one side, and are shaken out of 

 their parent leaf-cup by the slightest wind'. This dislodgment 

 being effected, the second or companion-root is pushed forth 

 to effect the self- planting of the young bulb. 



This tendency to mere increase, in whatever way it may be 

 manifested, is satisfied, as we ought carefully to observe, by 

 the most scanty growth in the plant, and in the grain with the 

 very thinnest coating of flesh, or even, as in most seeds, by the 

 production of the mere germ with its skin covering. 



But the meagre growth of the wild plant, and the scanty 

 covering of the seed, however abundantly sufficient for the ab- 

 solute necessities of simple reproduction, fail utterly to meet 

 the demands which are made upon them for support and com- 

 fort by the increased and increasing millions of mankind. 



To obviate this difficulty, the efforts of cultivation are direct- 

 ed to the increase of the growth of the plant, or the enlarge- 

 ment of the fleshy substance of the seed. This effort, in the 

 various grain-bearing plants, has resulted generally in an in- 

 crease both of the plant-growth and of the grain, without any 

 special drawback ; but in many garden-plants the improved 

 growth of the vegetable is attained at the expense of a partial 

 or total loss of the power of seed production. 



Thus a large, finely-headed cabbage or lettuce, or an im- 

 proved melon, or pumpkin, or cucumber, will be likely to yield 

 a much scantier crop of seed than one which is inferior. 



The same law holds among flowers. Almost all wild flow- 

 ers are single, and these, as well as the inferior single flowers 

 of cultivated varieties, seed freely ; but from those fine double 

 flowers which cultivation has produced, it is often very difficult 

 to obtain seed at all, as is often experienced in the case of su- 

 perior balsams, pinks, &c. 



VITALITY OF SEEDS. 



The vital principle of a seed resides in its germ, which is a 



