FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 1 



quire this union of the sexes in themselves, by 

 which mean?- they may generate without their be- 

 ing in the neighborhood of oilier plants; they arc 

 in this respect, hennar.hroditos, having their pro- 

 pagation without the help of one of the same 

 species. The liliy being a flower more generally 

 known than any other, and its generative parts 

 ]ar<rc and exposed, I shall, from thence, endeavor 

 to explain the method which nalure makes use of 

 to impregnate the seeds of that and every other 

 plant, and by which means the several species of 

 vegetables have been continued to the world. 



The flower of the lilly has six leaves or petals, 

 which are set on upon the summit of the foot 

 stalks marked A in the figure — they serve to guard 

 the pans of generation from the injuries of the 

 weather; and as they are of no other use, it is un- 

 necessary to place them in the figure. Bis the 

 mouth of this /);s<;ZZ({r«, or passage, which leads 

 into the uterus C, in which are three ovaries filled 

 with little eggs, or rudiments of seeds, such as we 

 find in the ovana oi animals; but these eggs will 

 decay and come to nothing, unless they are im- 

 pregnated by the farina fecinidans. or male seed 

 ol the same plant. From i) to E is a stamen of 

 the lilly through which the male seed of the iiiant 

 is conveyed to be perfected in the apex F, where, 

 by the Sun's heat, it ripen? and bursts lorth in very 

 minute particles lilce dust; some particles of this 

 powder falling upon the orifice R, is either con- 

 veyed from thence into the uterus C, or by i<s mag- 

 netic virtue, draws the nourishment with great 

 force fi'om the other parts of the plant into the 

 embryos of the fi'iiit, and makes them swell. In 

 this figure, I have oidy given a design of one sta- 

 men wuh its apex, to prevent mistakes in my ex- 

 planation ; but the flower of every lilly has six of 

 the same fiti'ure and use, which are phtced round 

 about the pisliUum, or female parts, so that it is al- 

 most impossible it should escape from receiving 

 some of the male dust, for farina fecundanf^,) fall- 

 ing upon it. In this, and other flowers of a like 

 nature, the pisiillitm is always so placed, tlv.vt the 

 apices which su. round it are either equal in height 

 with it, or above it, so that their dust fidls naturally 

 upon it. And when we observe it to be longer 



than the apices, we may then conjecture that the 

 fruit has begun to form itself, and has no longer 

 occasion lor the male dust. And it is likewise ob- 

 servable, that as soon as this work of generation 

 is perlbrmed, the male parts, together with the 

 leaves or coveriu:.', liiU off^ and the |)ipe leading to 

 the ifierus begins 10 shrink. We may fljrther re- 

 mark, that the top of the pisiilliim in every flower 

 is either covered with a sort of velvet ianic, or 

 emits a gummy liqtior the better to catch the dust 

 of the apices. 



And nov.'j^as we may find in the description of 

 the lilly, that the uterus is within the flower, so, 

 on tlie other hand, the uterus of the rose is with- 

 out tlie flower at the bottom of the petals or flower 

 leaves. And, likewise, in fruit trees — the cherrv, 

 plum, and some others, have their uterus or utri- 

 cles within their flowers; and the gooseberrv, cur- 

 ratit, apples and pears, on the outside or bott m of 

 their flowers. Eut, further, although nature has 

 designed the dust of the apices to fecundate the 

 female parts contained in the flowers or plants; 

 yet, we observe in some plants, the male a':d fe- 

 male parts are remote Irom each other ; as for ex- 

 ample, the gourd, pum|:kin, melon, cucumber, and 

 all of that race, have blosson.s distinctly male and 

 female, upon the same platit. The nsale blossoms 

 may be distinguished from the others, as they 

 have not any jo/s/f/ or rudiment of fruit about them, 

 bat have only a lnrge thrum covered with dust in 

 their middle; the tl-male l)lossom of these has a 

 pisiillum within the petals, or flower leaves, and 

 the rudiment of then- fruit always appe.renl at the 

 boltomof the flower beibre it opens; and so, in like 

 manner, all nut-bearing, and I think, mast-bear- 

 ing trees, have tlieir catkins, or male blossoms, re- 

 mote from the female parts. The oak, for exam- 

 ple, which blossoms in May, has its male parts 

 distinct from the acorns. Wefindsirings ofliltle/a- 

 rinaceovs flowers in great abundance, remoie fiom 

 the rudiments of the acorns or fruit, and so likewise 

 in the walnut, chesnut, hazel, pine, cypress, and 

 even the mulberry, aspen, and others. 1 have ob- 

 served that some sorts of willows change their 

 sex every year, by producing only male blossoms 

 or catkins one year, and tlic other following, 

 strings of female blossoms, which, i( tliey then 

 happen to be near enough some flowering nnile, 

 will produce seed? not much unlike those of an 

 apocinum. When v.^e view with a good micro- 

 scope thp male dust. of one single plant, we find 

 every particle of it to be of the same size and 

 figure; but in some cases, it is of two colors, as in 

 the tulip, where it is yellow and blue; but as plants 

 differ from one another in their figures and quali- 

 ties, so are the Hgures of their several dusts great- 

 ly diflerent fi-om each other; a grain of the dust of 

 the s;cranium sanguineum; maximo flire, is like a 

 bead of necklace with a hole through it, and in 

 like manner does the farina of every plant differ 

 in its shape fi'om the rest. 



The female parts ol" generaiion in plan's are 

 best seen in larire fruits, without the trouble of the 

 microscope' such as tlie fruit of the puni; kin or 

 melon, where, with the natural eye we may dis- 

 cover the ves-sels distinctly which make the tumc 

 or covering of each ovary — we may see how tlie 

 seeds are joined to it, and by what end Ihey re- 

 ceive their nouiishment. And again, between the 

 several ovaries enclosed in that ti-uit, we may very 

 easily perceive the vagina, or passage, thrtugh 



