COMPOSITION OF FRUIT. 79 



beans at 100, raspberry at 1,700 and some seeds, it is said, taken from the 

 Egyptian tombs and pyramids have also germinated. The difference 

 in these seminal properties depends much, no doubt, on the chemical 

 character of their parts, the starchy parts being most durable, while 

 the oily are easily decomposed. Warmth and moisture are the princi- 

 pal cause both of their germination and their death. So long as their 

 carbon remains they no doubt possess germinating powers. The effect 

 of water is to decompose their constituents, its oxygen combining with 

 their carbon and forming carbonic acid, which is a process of germina- 

 tion, and which they are incapable of renewing. The health and 

 vigor of the plant correspond with the seed ; hence the importance 

 of selecting such seeds for cultivation as will insure good fruit. 



Fruit is composed of two principal parts, the pericarp and seed* 

 The former is the seed vessel and signifies around the fruit. It is of 

 different kinds. Some fruits are capsules, opening by the separation 

 of valves. Within are cells or carpels containing the seeds ; so that 

 all which is not seeds belongs to the pericarp. On cutting a germ hori- 

 zontally ovules are seen with their outer covering or ovary. The 

 ovules, at first scarcely perceptible, become enlarged after fertilization 

 by the pollen, and the embryo and other parts appear and form the seed. 

 The ovary which enlarges with the ovules is furnished with glands 

 that secrete the juices necessary for the growth of the ovules ; and as 

 it becomes more mature, it is called the pericarp. This, in its growth, 

 becomes woody or pulpy. Pulpy pericarps absorb oxygen gas and 

 throw off carbonic acid ; and saccharine juices are elaborated in their 

 cellular integuments. At their period of decay they pass through a 

 slight fermentation, the juices become sour, the pulp is decomposed, 

 and putrefaction follows. When the germ is fertilized, the parts of 

 the flower not necessary for the growth of the fruit commonly fade, 

 wither, or fall off, while the pericarp and seed continue to enlarge 

 until perfected. All fruit has once been the germ of a flower. Fruit, 

 as generally understood, is pulpy and us'ed as food, but botanically, it 

 is the seeds and pericarp of all plants. Its size bears no proportion 

 to the vegetable producing it, as seen by the acorn of the oak and the 

 pumpkin of the small vine. 



Fruits are divided into 3 parts, in some pericarps, 1st the epicarp, the 

 skin or membranous part surrounding it ; 2d, the sarcocarp, the fleshy 

 or corky part, covered by the epicarp ; 3d, the etidocarp, a membrane 

 of the fruit lining the internal cavity and forming the partitions and 

 cells. The skin of the peach, for example, is the epicarp, the pulpy 

 substance absorbing the juices is the sarcocarp, and the dry and tough 

 shell enclosing the kernel is the endocarp. The pericarp, in most 

 fruits, consists, 1st, of valves, external pieces forming the sides of the 

 seed vessels. If the pericarp is composed of but one valve, as in the 

 chestnut, it is termed univalved, if of 2, as in the pea pod, bivalved ; 



