AMERICAN JOURNAL 



OF 



AGRICULTURE AND SCIENCE, 



No. XV. JULY, 1847. 



FRUITS. 



In our previous article on fruits we confined ourselves to the 

 simple facts of fertilization, or the conditions on which it takes 

 place, and some modifying circumstances attending the phenome- 

 non. We propose in the present article to consider more particu- 

 larly some of the results of this operation. 



Nothing can be more varied than these results are in some re- 

 spects, or more constant than they are in others. The effect on 

 the parts composing the seed vessel are as various as the plants 

 themselves, and the production of a miniature plant or embryo 

 is as constant as the phenomenon. 



The most apparent and striking changes in regard to the parts 

 of the fruit, are those in respect to its form, size and texture. 

 To attempt an explanation of these changes, as to their cause, 

 would be just as fruitless as to attempt to give a reason why an 

 acorn produces an oak, or any seed a plant similar to the one that 

 bore it. In the present state of our knowledge, it is simply the 

 fact we have to deal with ; of the cause we know nothing. When 

 the act of fertilization is accomplished, a series of changes occur, 

 which are characteristic of each species. In some the seed vessel 

 seems to receive more than an equal share of the energies of the 

 plant, increasing remarkably in size, and bearing no resemblance 

 at maturity to the minute body of its earlier stage. In others the 

 seed seems the special object of care, and while the seed vessel 

 becomes a dry, thin membrane, the seeds become large, and are 

 much the most conspicuous portions of the fruit. At other times 

 they both increase together, and both seem the equal recipients 

 of the energies of the plant. As examples of the first of these, we 

 have the large, fleshy fruits, as the water-melon, gourd, &c. ; of 

 the second, the bean, wheat, pea, &c., afford examples, and we 



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