1846.] Fertilization of Plants. 51 



eration of fertilization, as the splendid hybrids that adorn our 

 gardens abundantly testify. 



It is our intention to lay before the readers of the Journal, the 

 present condition of science in relation to this subject. We shall 

 state as concisely and clearly as possible, the views of the most 

 eminent cultivators of this department of vegetable physiology, 

 and give our own views where observation or experiment have 

 enabled us to decide. 



The subject of fertilization may be very appropriately discussed 

 under three heads. 



1st. The production and constitution of the pollen grains, or 

 fertilizing powder. 



2d. Its application to the stigma and means of contact with 

 the embryo sac. 



3d. The effect of the pollen on the ovules. 



1st. The production of pollen from a mass undistinguishable 

 from surrounding substance may very easily be traced. There is 

 a period in the growth of a bud, when the calyx, corolla, stamens 

 and pistils are in every essential respect exactly alike, and they 

 differ in no respect from the buds. This of course is a very early 

 stage of its development, yet they bear marks of embryo leaves. 

 The peculiar hidden impulse or power which guides their future 

 development has not yet been felt. The presiding agency that 

 checks the elongation of internodes, that moulds the outer whorl 

 into a rough and firm covering, that decks the adjacent circle 

 with the gaudy colors of the rainbow, and forms the slen- 

 der filament and knob-like anther, and fashions the recepta- 

 cle of the future seeds in the centre is yet dormant. If we 

 examine, by means of a good compound microscope, a bud at an 

 early period of its development, we shall find the whorls of small 

 bodies that are to become the future stamens, consisting of cellular 

 tissue of the same kind as that which composes the other whorls. 

 No indication of their future destination is at all to be discovered. 

 If we watch the progressive development of the bud we shall 

 very soon observe that the different whorls of organs are destined 

 to different functions. If we keep our attention directed to the 



