REPRODUCTION. 413 



dant reason to admire and be grateful for the wise and boun- 

 tiful provisions which nature has made for meeting these 

 contingencies. 



The multiplication of the species by buds, or Cernmipa- 

 rous reproduction, \s exemplified on the largest scale in the 

 vegetable creation. ■ Almost every point of the surface of a 

 plant appears to be capable of giving rise to a new shoot, 

 which, when fully developed, exactly resembles the parent 

 stock, and may, therefore, be regarded as a separate organic 

 being. The origin of buds is wholly beyond the sphere of 

 our observation; for they arise from portions of matter too 

 minute to be cognizable to our organs, with every assistance 

 which the most powerful microscopes can supply. These 

 imperceptible atoms, from which organic beings take their 

 rise, are called gerins. 



Vegetable germs are of two kinds; those which produce 

 stems, and those which produce roots: and although both 

 may be evolved from every part of the plant, the former are 

 usually developed at the axillse of the leaves; that is, at the 

 angles of their junction with the stem; and also at the ex- 

 tremities of the fibres of the stems; their development being 

 determined by the accumulation of nourishment around 

 them. They first produce buds, which expanding, and put- 

 ting forth roots, assume the form of shoots; and the succes- 

 sive accumulation of shoots, which remain attached to the 

 parent plant,* and to each other, 'is what constitutes a tree. 

 What are called knots in wood are the result of germs, 

 which, in consequence of the accumulation of nourishment 

 around them, are developed to a certain extent, and then 



* In some rare instances the shoots are removed to a distance from the pa- 

 rent plant, by a natural process: this occurs in some creeping' plants, which 

 propagate themselves by tlie horizontal extension of their branches on the 

 ground wliere thay dip, and strike out new roots, g'iving- rise to stems inde- 

 pendent of the orig-inal plant. This also sometimes happens in the case of 

 tuberous roots, as the potato, which contain a number of germs, surround- 

 ed by nutritive matter, ready to be developed when circumstances are fa- 

 vourable. These portions are called eyes; and each of them, when planted 

 separately, are readily evolved, and give rise to an individual plant. 



