1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



263 



arrangement, nor any thing lelt to chance ; but 

 every plait is so evidently ordered by sorp.e great 

 and unvarying superintendent power, that the 

 manner in which tlie young leaves are folded up 

 has been adopted for purposes of systematic ar- 

 rangement, under the name of vernation or perfo- 

 liation." 



During the spring and first part of the summer, 

 the young shoots of a tree increase in length ra- 

 pidly ; but about the first or middle of August 

 this increase ceases almost entirely, and the vita! 

 energy of the plant is directed", in part to the per- 

 fection of its seed, in part to the formation of wood 

 to give solidity and strength to the new stem, and 

 in part to the productions of buds. In order to 

 protect the rudimentary leaves which these buds 

 contain, from the storms of winter, they are al- 

 ways covered with stiti' hard scales. For their 

 further protection, and to prevent their being pene- 

 trated by snow or rain, these buds are sometimes 

 covered with a sort of resin, as in the balsam ; at 

 other times with hairs lying close to their sides, and 

 forming a kind of thatch to shed the rain, as in 

 the hickory. The leaves of a tree always require 

 two seasons to bring them to perfection ; the first 

 season they appear m the form of the rudimentary 

 leaves discoverable in the leaf bud, and never un-' 

 til the second year do they complete their devel- 

 opement, and appear as fully formed leaves. 



When leaf buds appear at any other part of the 

 stem except the axils of the leaves, they are con- 

 sidered as altogether irreo;ular in their position, and 

 are termed adventitious buds. Such are the buds 

 which often arise from the roots of some plants, 

 as the Lombardy poplar ; and those which grow 

 from the roots of most plants, when the stem is 

 cut off close to the ground. With the cause of 

 this occasional appearance of buds on those parts 

 which do not ordinarily produce them, botanists 

 are altogether unacquainted; this, however, seems 

 to be certain, that it is the cellular parts alone 

 which give origin to buds, and further, that the 

 cellular part of any organ, be it root, stem or leaf, 

 may produce buds. "Thus, they are of constant 

 occurrence at the margin of the leaves of the bryo- 

 phyllum; they are generated in abundance by the 

 roots of the cydonia japonica, and they have been 

 seen sprouting from the surface of the leaves of 

 the star of Bethlehem." 



When by cultivation we have obtained any 

 particular variety of a plant, we can propagate 

 that variety only by means of the buds ; as is ex- 

 emplified in the common operations of grafting 

 and budding. Whenever a plant is propagated 

 by means of a bud, whether ihat bud be set in the 

 ground, as is sometimes done, or upon the stem of 

 another plant, as is the more common practice, 

 we must look upon the new plant, rather as a con- 

 tinuation of the old one, than as a new plant, pro- 

 perly so called. If we resort to the seed for the 

 purpose of propagation, we will almost always 

 find that the new plant belongs to the species, but 

 not to that variety of the species from which the 

 seed was taken. This fact should be borne in 

 mind in attempting to multiply such plants as 

 have been improved by cultivation. 



Chapter X. 



ORGAKS OF FRUCTIFICATION. FLORAL EN- 

 VELOPES. STAMENS AND PISTILS. PROOF 

 OF THE SEXUALITY OF THESE ORGANS. LIN- 

 N^US' EXPERIEENTS. HYBRID PLANTS. 



Having completed our examination of the or- 

 gans of vegetation, viz., the root, the stem, and 

 t^he leaves, we will now turn to the organs of fruc- 

 tification, i. e. tboss organs which are more par- 

 ticularly concerned in the production and perfec- 

 tion of the seed or fruit. These organs taken col- 

 lectively, form what is commonly called the flower. 

 We will assume the flower of the peach (amygda- 

 lus persica) as our type. If we examine this 

 flower, commencing at its base, or the point at 

 which it is inserted upon the stem, we will find, 

 first, a circle of five scale-like leaves; these are 

 termed sepals, and, taken collectively, form the ca- 

 lyx or flower-cup. Next to these we find a circle 

 of five colored leaves, larger, more perfect in their 

 form, and more delicate in their structure, than 

 those of the first or outer circle ; these are termed 

 petals, and taken collectively form the corolla. 

 Immediately within these, we find ten or more 

 small stem-like organs, surrounding the central 

 organ of the flower; these are termed stamens; 

 and the central organ the pistil. Such is the form 

 which the flower presents in most plants, varying 

 only in the number of each particular class of or- 

 gans. From this, its typical or normal form, we 

 meet with many variations. In the v/hite llily, 

 (lilium candidiim), there is no calyx, the corolla 

 being joined immediately upon the stem. In 

 grasses and other allied generte of plants, we find 

 a calyx, but no corolla. In the flowers of the oak, 

 the Lombardy poplar, &c., we find neither calyx 

 nor corolla, but simply a little scale situated at the 

 base of the stamens and pistils. In the ffowers 

 of some other plants we find no traces of either 

 calyx or corolla, nor even a scale. The only or- 

 gans which seem to be essential to the perfectioa 

 of the seed, are the stamens and pistils ; and 

 hence, all flowers in which these are found, are 

 considered perfect flowers. 



It frequently happens that the calyx and corolla 

 run so much into each other that it is impossible to 

 tell where the one ends, or the other begins, as in 

 the flower of the Carolina alspice, {calycanthus 

 floridus,) and in that of the white water-lily 

 (^nymphcaa cdorata.') For this reason as well as 

 because their office is supposed to be pretty nearly 

 the same, they are generally classed together by 

 the vegetable physiologist, and the common name 

 of floral envelopes is applied to them. When the 

 calyx is distinguishable from the corolla it is com- 

 monly known by being smaller, greener, more 

 leaf-like and more permanent than that organ. 

 These characters however, will not always serve 

 to distinguish it; for we find it larger and more 

 richly colored than the corolla, in the ear-drop 

 (fuchsia magellanica,') and less permanent in the 

 different species of poppy (papaver.') In fact, 

 there seems to be no better way of defining the 

 calyxj than as the outer circle of the floral enve- 

 lope ; and consequently the name is so applied, 

 whatever the color, size, or other characters of 

 that circle may be. If there is but one circle, that 

 one is generally termed the calyx. The corolla, 

 which is often to be known from the calyx, only by 



