BOTANY. 



377 



evinced by a cirtunistaiicH rt'Cdixlcd l)y R;iy 

 I to have t;tken pLice u short time previous to 



the promuli;;iliou of the discoveries of Sir 

 Thomas Millinjrtou respectiun; the functions 

 of tiie flower. It appears lliat a niarket- 

 gardtMier of Brentlbrd, named Kichard Baal, 

 sold a (juantity of the seed of the caiihilowers 

 at that period bearing a very high price, to a 

 number of persons carrying on llie same trade 

 in the vicinity of tlie metropohs, who, having 

 sown it in tlie usual way, were surprised antt 

 alarmed on findiuLr that, instead of cauliflow- 

 ers, it produced a kind or variety of cabbage 

 then in common use, and known as the long- 

 leaved, probably resembling some of the cole- 

 worts or kales of the present day. Enraged 

 at their loss, and attributing it to dishonesty 

 on the part of liaal, 1 hey joined in a ])roseca- 

 tion against him. The trial took place in 

 Westiuinster Hall, where he was adjudged to 

 be guilty of fraud, and .sentenced not only to 

 |)ay back the pi-ice of the seed, but to com- 

 pensate the garileners for their loss in culti- 

 vation, and the diminished value of their ex- 

 pected crop. Thus was poor Baal ruined 

 both in forUuie and character by the ignorance 

 of his judges, who, had they been acijuainted 

 with the true state of the case, would in all 

 probability have acquitted him of all iraudu- 

 leet intention, attributing the misliai) to the 

 accielentid impregnation of the pistils of the 

 cauliflower by the ])olleu of the colewort, 

 through the medimn of insects, or wafted by 

 the wind. 



To attempt a detail of the advances made 

 in Horticultui'e and Agriculture, particularly 

 in the fbnner, since the time oi" Ba^d, solely 

 in conseq jence of our knowledge of a fact 

 that, unknown, caused his ruin, wotdd be an 

 all but interminable task. The natural va- 

 rieties of esculent and ornamental 2^1'iiits 

 were then comparatively few : those artifi- 

 cially obtained since are now approaching to 

 a number the e.\tent of which it is impossi- 

 ble to foresee or calculate ; their name is al- 

 ready ■' Legion." The most astonishing ex- 

 amples are to be found in the annals of the 

 florists, the cultivator of geraniums, roses, 

 heaths, and pansies. The art which luis suc- 

 cessively produced their hundreds and their 

 thousands, diflering only in the form or ar- 

 nmgement of a petal or the disposal of its 

 tints, a spot or line may perhaps be regarded 

 with contempt by those whose pursuits are 

 directed to an end more immediately and ob- 

 viously useful ; but, without seeking to op- 

 pose their prejudices by tracing the necessary 

 association between the elegant mid the use- 

 ful in elevating man in the scale of being, let 

 me remind such persons that the plastic 

 power of Nature is equally efficient in enlarg- 

 ing a root and seed as it is in varying the col- 

 ors of a flower, and that the same means dit- 

 I'erently directed will efl'ect both. How else 

 the vast diversity of our home-grown fruits, 

 almost equaling in many kinds, and in some 

 surpassing those of our garden-flowers .' The 

 varieties of the apple alone — the most valua- 



(7Ut) 



ble of them all — amount to aljout two thou- 

 sand ; yet idl of them are derived from two 

 originiU species, viz., the malus acerbn, iho 

 harsh and sour crab-tree of our forests, and 

 \.\\(- inulus mi/is, or sweet apjile of a milder 

 climate; both of which are by some bota- 

 nists considered to be natural varieties of the 

 same, though their origin cannot now be 

 traced. These two thousand varieties, about 

 one thousand kinds of pear, and h:df of the 

 latter number of cherries and plums Individ 

 ually, have all originated frcmi seed, and aro 

 indebtetl lijr tlieir peculiarities in flavor, hue, 

 and iiu'in or size, to the pollen with which 

 that seed was fccundated. That which has 

 been eflected with regard to fruit and flowers 

 is equally possible with roots and grain, as 

 well as other vegetable products requiring 

 cultivation on a large scale. If by crossing 

 till! breed in cattle the agility and musiular 

 tbrces of the horse have been inq)roved, 

 adapting him to the various purposes for 

 which his powers are requux-d, the flesh, 

 of the o.\. and sheep rendered more pal 

 atable and nutritious, and the wool of the lat- 

 ter increased in iineness and quantity, the at- 

 tributes of the plant may be called forth and 

 rendered nun-e sXibservient to the wealth of 

 the agriculturist by similar means. The 

 I)lant and the animal are both organic sti'uc- 

 tures, subject to the same general laws of de- 

 velopment and reproduction, oi improvement 

 and deterioration ; and in pennitting the 

 manifestation of those laws, though only to 

 the slight extent of our present knowledge, 

 Nature has bestowed on man a power of fore- 

 stalling, for his own immediate purposes, 

 changes that, under her own dominion, would 

 perhaps never take place, or but after the 

 lapse of thousands of years. 



We might jjursue this subject much far- 

 ther, but It would carry us beyond the or 

 diuary limits of a lecture ; and as my pur- 

 pose in this, the introductoiy one of a course 

 of s(mie extent, is rather to call your atten- 

 tion to the science of Botiiny as one of prac- 

 tical utility, than as a mere source of amuse- 

 ment, if that purpose has been attauied it will 

 be sufficient for the present. In om- next, 

 some detail of the functions and organs by 

 which vegetable life is maintained will be 

 necessary to the understanding of those that 

 will follow. The cultivator of plants who 

 knows nothing of their anatomy and physi- 

 ology is much in the same position as the 

 quack who undertakes to lop ott' a man's limlj 

 without knowmg the veins and arteries he 

 must sever in the operation, or who pre- 

 scribes a course of diet or medicuie, ignonmt 

 alike of the nature of either, and of tlie vital 

 energies through which he expects them to 

 prevail. [Lundon Farmer's Magazine 



To Destroy Thistles. — Mow the plants 

 close by the ground, split open the root stalks,, 

 and put sail in tiie opening. 



