1S3G.] 



F A R JM E R S ' REGISTER, 



which the farina fecandans has passed to im- 

 pregnate the seed. 



It may, perhaps, be obiected against this hypo- 

 thesis, tliat there are many flowers vvhicli lian^- 

 downwards, as the crown inipivial, the cyclmmn, 

 &c., and that their ;jt".s7i7s cannot receive the furi- 

 r,a fecandans upon them ; hut if we observe that 

 the ;)i".s/i7s of these flowers are always more pro- 

 minent, or somewhat longer than the dusty apices 

 which surrounded them, we may easily conceive 

 that tiie glutinous matter and velvet covering on 

 the extremities of the pisti's, may be capable 

 enough of receiving and holding some of the 

 powder as it fails; and whether the intromission of 

 \ho farina fecandani' be requisite or not, its lodge- 

 ment on the mouth of the pistillum ma)', by vir- 

 tue of its attractive quality, perhaps fecundate the 

 seeds contained in XhGuierus. 



I am sure, in the production of animals, there 

 are yet greater difficulties to encounter; and it may 

 be, if the analog}? between plants and animals was 

 more inquired into bj? the learned, they might dis- 

 cover many things which would be serviceable to 

 the preservation and benefit of animal bodies, as 

 tin's knowledge will be to the improvement of the 

 vegetable world. We find, for example, that 

 trees are generally longer lived than animals, some 

 of them living to lour or five hundred years; nay, 

 we have some accounts, by tradition, of trees that 

 have lived above two thousand years. The 

 reason, 1 think, is plain : first, trees have little or 

 no sensation, and it is my opinion, that the senses 

 prey abuadavuly upon the. juices of thr; body thev 

 belong lo. ScciUidly, they always breathe the 

 same air; and thirdly, they fi-.ed always upon the 

 same diet. And mankind, who in fbrnser times is 

 said to have lived upwards of nine hundred years, 

 suhsisted upon simple !bod, and drank of the clear 

 stream; at least, he had then but liiile variety ol 

 iijod. 



I shall now proceed to what I call the demon- 

 strative part oi" this sysiem. I made my e.xperi- 

 ment upon the tidij), which I chose rather than 

 any other plant, because it seldom iaiis to produce 

 seed. I carefully took oat of thein all their apices 

 before the farina fecandans was ripe, or had any 

 waysappeared. These tulips being thus castrated, 

 bore no seed, while, on the other Imnd, those Vvdiich 

 1 had let alone were fruitful.' But for a fidrther 

 demonstration that plants generate, after the man- 

 ner I have endeavored to describe, I shall re- 

 commend to my reader the following experiment: 

 Make choice of such a plant, of the hazel or fil- 

 bert, as you find to be in a bearing state, and lar 

 distant from any other of the same sort; this tree, 

 in January, puts forth v.'hat arc commonly called 

 catkins, which are [ongthruni'!, composed of very 

 small flowers, that, towards the beginning of 

 I^Iarch, are covered with a fine dust, or male seed. 

 It is true that the blossoms, or female parts, ai)- ! 

 pear on the buds of the same tree — -they are verv 

 small, and hardly to be discovered without si ri/tj 

 examination, only offering to the view a smidi ' 

 cluster of scarlet threads, which are so many I 

 tubes leading to the rudiments of the nut.^; this 

 happens at the windj? season of the year, that the 

 male dust may be more easily conveyed to the 

 utricles or female blossoms of the plant. Nov/, as 

 soon as the catkins appear, they must be carefully 

 taken from the tree, and it wdll produce no fruit 

 that year, unless you have a mind to single out any 

 Vol. IV— 2 



particular blossom of it, wdiich may be impreg- 

 nated with calkins from another tree, gathered 

 Iresh every morning fiir tliree or four days succes- 

 sively, and dusted ii^'htly over it, without bruising 

 its tender fibres; and in like manner, may the blos- 

 soms of any otlier tree or fiower be castrated, and 

 will have the same efi:ect. 



By this knowledge, we may change the proper- 

 ty and taste of any fruit, hy impregnating the one 

 with the farina of another of the same class, as, 

 fcir example, a codling app-le with a pearnmin, 

 v/hich will occasion the codling, so impregnated, to 

 last a longer time than usual, and be of a sharper 

 taste; or if the v»'inter fruits should be fecundated 

 with the dust of the summer kinds, they will de- 

 cay before their usual time; and it is from this ac- 

 cidental cou;ding of the farina of one with the 

 other, that in an oi^hard where there is variety of 

 apples, even the fruiis gathered from the same tree, 

 differ in their flavor and times of ripening; and, 

 moreover, the seeds of those a!)ples so generated, 

 bein.'cr chauijed by that means from their natural 

 qualities, will produce difi'erent kinds of fruits, if 

 they are sown. 



It is frotn this accidental coupling tliat proceeds 

 the numberless varieties of fruits and flowers 

 vrhich are raised everv day from seed. The yel- 

 low and black ■ ' ::. coupling with one an- 

 other, produc;! ' ,. Inch ii'ave other varieties, 

 which again njixiiig fiieir qualities in like manner, 

 has oflered up. by little and little, the numberless 

 variations which we see at this day m flower gar- 

 dens. Auriculas, Vvdiose flowers Avere of one co- 

 lor, and stood remote from others, have produced 

 no variety. 



I need not explain how tlie male dust of plants 

 may be conveved by the air from one to another, 

 by which this ireneration and production of new 

 plants is brought about; but I shall hint, by the 

 by, to such as plant orchards for cider, that they 

 ought to pin-.' " ' ;t of apple in those 



orchards, and : i^dons should belike- 



wise remote ii'i';;; c.'ner i::n;;s of apples, whose ^i- 

 ri;m would else certainly spoil the cider fruit by 

 ripening, some sooner, and others later, which 

 would occasion alnsost a continued firmentation in 

 !he liipjor, and never permit it to settle or grow 

 fine. 



r^Joreover, a curious person, may, b3'this know- 

 ledge, produce sucJi rare kinds of plants, as have 

 not yet been heard ofj by making choice of two 

 plants for this purjiose, as are nearly alike in their 

 parts, but chiefly in their flowers or seed vessels. 

 For example, the Carnation and Sweet William 

 are in some respects alike, the farina of the one 

 will impregnate the other, and the seed so enliven- 

 ed, will produce a plant diflering from either. 

 These couplings are not unlike that of the mare 

 with the ass,- which produces a mule; and in re- 

 gard to c-neration, are also the same with mules, 

 not heinff able to multiply their species, no more 

 than other monsters geneiated in the same man- 

 ner. 



\7c may learn fi-om hence, that the fruit of any 

 tree may be .adulterated as well by the farina of 

 one of the same sort, which perhaps may be sick- 

 ly, and of a dwarf kind, as by the dust of some 

 other kind nearly related to it, and worse than it- 

 self Now, as such couplings may be very fre- 

 quent in the forest, I would recommend the choice 

 of seed, to be made only from such pltmts or tim- 



