12 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No 1 



that which is already known; habits of closo anJ 

 accurale observation of nature, uiizpnuily, and pa- 

 tience. It he possess these, his labors cannot liul 

 to be crowned with success. 



With these brief introductory remarks, we will 

 now turn to ihe subject belbre us ; viz. vegetable 

 physiology, or an examination into the nature, 

 structure, and vital action of plants. It is dilHcuIt, 

 if not impossible, to give a strictly scientific defi- 

 nition of the term, plant. The division of nalur.d 

 objects into the three great classes, of minerals, 

 vegetables, and animals, is one, Ibunded upon an 

 observation of those ot their properties, which 

 produce the most lively impressions upon our 

 senses; and not upon an intimate and accurate ac- 

 quaintance with all that belongs to them. There 

 are certain great and striking diferences, in the 

 structure of the more common, and more perfectly 

 formed objects, belonging to these several classes, 

 which we all observe. A mineral remains fixed 

 to the same spot, and undergoes little or no change, 

 in the ordinary course of things. A plant is con- 

 tinually undergoing changes ; it springs from the 

 earth, puts Ibrth leaves, tiowers, and fruit, and 

 finally disappears, and, in due time, is succeeded 

 by others like itself. An animal, not only lives 

 and grows, but breathes, moves, utters sounds, 

 and, in a thousand ways, gives evidence of the 

 possession of a kind of lile, different from that 

 which belongs to vegetables. Upon an observa- 

 tion ot" such ddl'erences as these, the general clas- 

 sification of natural objects is founded. 



When we turn our attention to the less perlectly 

 formed individuals belonging lo these several 

 classes, this broad line of distinction entirely dis- 

 appears ; and so impossible is it to run a dividing 

 line between vegetables and animals on the one 

 hand, or vegetables and minerals on the other, 

 that some iialuralisis, among whom we must 

 reckon the celebrated Eulibn, have contended that 

 there is no exact boundary between them; but 

 that at their exiremilies, the three great classes of 

 natural bodies melt imperceptibly into each other. 

 Naturalists have lieiiuently attempted to draw the 

 line of separation; but, hitherto, have always 

 failed. Litma-us, distinguislieil them as follows : 

 " Minerals trrow — veixctables grow and live — ani- 

 mals grow, live and perceive."' To say nothing 

 of the unpliilosophical manner in which the terms 

 grow, and live, are used in these definitions — 

 meaning one thing in one place, and entirely dif 

 lerent thing in another — the insulTiciency oi' this 

 distinction will be apparent, if we inquire, how 

 does an oyster manil(?st its perception? Only by 

 closing its shell when touched. The sensitive 

 plant might lay claim tn this power, on grounds 

 almost equally good. Touch it, and immediately 

 its leaves close, and, torfether with its branches, 

 droop to the earth, as if in this way to avoid fur- 

 ther injiny. Tlie mention of a single fact, will, 

 perhaps, set this matter before us in a stronger 

 light. The nalural order of beings, called zoo- 

 philes, or animated plants, as their name imports, 

 (of which order the coral may be mentioned, as a 

 fiimiliar example,) were by Woodward and Beau- 

 mont, arranged with minerals ; by Ray and Lis- 

 ter, with vegetables ; and f^re now, by the com- 

 mon consent of naturalists, admitted to a place 

 among animals. So strongly do they, in sonic re- 

 spects, resemble animals — so clearly do they pos- 

 sess many of the traits of the vegetable race— 



and yet, at the same lime, so strange an admix- 

 ture of the mineral character is discoverable in 

 them, that those who are best acqainted with 

 them, will be least disposed to wonder at these 

 errors. 



This gradual melting into each other, which ia 

 observable in the three great classes of natural 

 objects, may be noticed in their sub-divisions also. 

 Tlie leather-winged bat, is a connecting link be- 

 tween beasts and birds; lizards, between beasts 

 and reptiles; reptiles themselves, between beasts 

 and fishes. So among vegetables. Ferns and 

 mosses, whose seeds are evident, serve as a con- 

 necting link between the more peritict plants, and 

 the numerous classes of lichens and fungi, the most 

 imperfect of vegetables. So also among mine- 

 rals. The numerous specimens which assume a 

 regular Ibrm by cleavage, serve to connect those 

 which appear as rude and shapeless masses, with 

 those which are presented to us possessed of th« 

 high polish, and all the beautiful regularity of 

 form which characterize the perfect crystal. In 

 truth, we glide so smoothly, and by such imper- 

 ceptible degrees, from the rock, or from the tree of 

 the Ibrest, through all the intervening gradations, 

 till at last we come to intellectual man, that we 

 discover no interval between species of beings. 

 An uninterrupted chain connects the two extremes. 



The same is true of the ditl'erent parts or organs 

 of animals and plants. From the perfect hand, 

 that " organ ol" organs," as it has been termed, in 

 view of its wonderful mechanism "and admirable 

 adaptation to the wants of men — we pass by such 

 insensible degrees to the hard undivided hoof of 

 the horse, that it is almost impossible to tell 

 where one variety ends, or where the variety next 

 below it begins. The same remarks will be Ibund 

 to apply with equal truth to the organs of plants. 

 For this reason, naturalists in treating of didierent 

 classes and organs of bodies, do not attempt to 

 draw lines of distinction between them ; but se- 

 lecting some one individual from among the most 

 perlect of the class to which it belongs, confine 

 their descriptions entirely to it. The one thus 

 selected, is called the type; and its ibrm the typi- 

 cal or normal Ibrm of the class. After the des- 

 cription of the type is fuiislied, any variations 

 wliich other individuals may [iresent, are noticed 

 if it be thought necessary. I>y adopting this me- 

 thod, that endless controversy about terms, in 

 which the earlier naturalists spent so much oi" 

 their time, to no purpose, is avoided. As the 

 terms type, and typical, or normal, will, of neces- 

 sity, frequently occur in the Ibllowing essays, it 

 will be well Ibr the reader to recollect their mean- 

 ing. 



'J'he common garden bean, (vicia faba,') inas- 

 much as it presents every organ commonly met 

 with in plants, may be assumed as the type of 

 this class of things. W we examine it, we will 

 find that it consists of the following parts: First, 

 an irregularly divided part, in its natural situation 

 buried in the ground, and called the root. Se- 

 cond, a green stalk or axis, to which all the other 

 parts are attached, called the stem. Third, cer- 

 tain flat, green organs, situated at different dis- 

 tances along the stem, called haves. These are 

 termed organs of vegetation, because their office 

 is, to minister to the nourishment and growth of 

 the plant. From the point at which some of the 

 iipper leaves are joined to the stem, spring slender 



