PROCESS OF VEGETATION. J^Ol 



soon covered with young plants, though no seeds have been 

 allowed to have access to it. The young root is the first 

 part of the infant plant that comes forth, and by an unerring 

 law of nature, it is sent downwards, to seek out nourishment 

 as well as to fix the plant to the ground. In sea-weeds, it 

 seems merely to ansv.^er the latter purpose. In the Dod- 

 der, the original root lasts only till the stems have established 

 themselves on some vegetable, on whose juices they feed by 

 means of other roots or fibres, and then it withers away. 

 When the young root has made some progress, the two lobes, 

 commonly of a hemispherical figure, which compose the 

 chief bulk of the seed, swell and expand, and are raised out 

 of the ground by the ascending stem. These lobes are 

 called the Cotyle'dons, and between them is seated the Em- 

 hryo, or germ of the plant. The leaves of the germ being 

 of a succulent nature, assist the plant by attracting from the 

 atmosphere such particles as the tender vessels are fitted to 

 convey. These particles, however, have not in their own 

 nature a sufficiency of nutriment for the increasing plant. 

 The substance or farina of the lobes becomes soft and sweet, 

 being converted into sugar, and is conveyed as long as it 

 lasts to the tender plant, by means of innumerable small 

 vessels, which are spread through the lobes ; and vi^hich, 

 uniting into one common trunk, enter the body of the germ, 

 and thus supply that balmy liquor, without which the plant 

 must inevitably have perished ; its root being then too small 

 to absorb a sufficiency of food, and its body too weak to as- 

 similate it into nourishment. 



Such is the general course of vegetation in plants furnished 

 with two lobes or cotyledons. But there is a very distinct 

 tribe, which have but one lobe, and are called monocoty- 

 le'dons. These are the grass and grain tribe, and many 

 others, in which the body of the seed does not ascend out 

 of the ground. The preservation of the vital principle in 

 seeds is one of those wonders of nature which pass unre- 

 garded, from being every day under our notice. Some may 

 be sent round the world through every vicissitude of climate, 

 or be buried for ages deep in the ground, and yet, in favour- 

 able circumstances, they will vegetate. Others in order to 

 succeed must sow themselves, in their own way, and at their 

 own time. Great degrees of heat, short of boiling, do not im- 

 pair their vegetative power, nor do we know any degree of 



