1848. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



197 



Botany. — Construction of Flowers. 



Parts of a Flower— Nature of Stamens and Pistils, their situa- 

 tion—Kinds of Flowers— Why some are barren, and others 

 fertile— Strawberry, and other plants curious. 



Besides the Jioral envelopes, or the calyx and 

 corol which are the attractive portions of a 

 flower, there are two others, without which no 

 fruit will be produced. These are stamens and 

 pistils. Of these the pistils have a direct con- 

 nection with the seed or fruit, but must be ferti- 

 lized by the pollen from the stamens, or no fruit 

 will be produced. Hence it is that the stamens 

 and pistils are called the essential organs of flow- 

 ers, essential to the production of fruit, the great 

 and immediate object of vegetation. 



The distinctive nature of these two organs 

 was not known or considered of any scientific 

 importance till the last century. On it Lin- 

 NEUs founded his system of botanic classification. 

 It required no small efTort, however, to convince 

 learned men of this difference, and to reduce 

 the knowledge to practical use. Like the gravi- 

 tation of Newton, this had to fight its way to 

 the minds and convictions of men, till both were 

 firmly established, and became fundamental in 

 physical and vegetable philosophy. The grow- 

 ers of strawberries have come to recognize this 

 distinction, and are obliged to act on its reality 

 to insure success. 



In most flowers the stamens and pistils are as- 

 sociated together, and this is the common method 

 of securing the fertilization of the pistils by the 

 pollen. Such flowers are called perfect flowers, 

 because each flower has in itself the elements of 

 reproduction. Such are fertile flowers. 



Some flowers have only stamens and are called 

 staminate, (and not perfect) flowers : they are 

 necessarily barren flowers — cannot bear fruit. 



Some other flowers bear only pistils, and 

 hence are called pistillate flowers. These will 

 prove to be unproductive of fruit, unless they 

 obtain pollen from some neighboring stamens. 



The strawberry, as cultivated, contains these 

 three kinds of flowers, the perfect, the staminate, 

 and the pistillate. It is probable that examina- 

 tion would prove there are very few of the last, 

 that is, of those who are merely pistillate. But 

 on some varieties the merely staminate are abun- 

 dant, and thus disappoint the expectations of the 

 cultivator. Occasionally a whole bed of straw- 

 berry blossoms yield no fruit. Knowledge of 

 these differences becomes important, and thus art 

 employs this knowledge for practical benefit. 



Some plants have their stamens in one flower, 

 and their pistils in another, on the same plant, or 

 a part of iheir flowers are only staminate, and 

 another part only pistillate. The common Indian 

 corn has the stamens in the tassels, while the 

 pistils are the silk of the ear. On the cucumber, 

 squash, water-melon, pumpkin and gourd, we 



find the same arrangement; and if all the in- 

 sects that now infest them were destroyed, and 

 thus prevented from bearing the pollen to the 

 pistils, no fruit would be found. 



In other cases, we find the stamens in flowers 

 on one plant, and the pistils in flowers on 

 another. The willow, poplar, hemp, and many 

 others, are instances. The yellow or house 

 willow is found cultivated only with the pistillate 

 flowers. The Lombardy poplar is found only 

 with the staminate flowers in our country, as the 

 pistillate plant never has been imported from 

 Italy. The cultivated hop bears pistillate flowei-s 

 only, and the staminate is rarely seen. Of the 

 hemp, inestimable for cordige, the plant bearing 

 the stamens dies soon as the pollen has been im- 

 parted to the pistils, and only the pistillate plant 

 is used for its seed and strong fibres. On the 

 other hand, flax has perfect flowers ; and stamens 

 and pistils, seed and flax, are the product of one 

 plant. 



There is no wonderful peculiarity then in the 

 flowers of the strawberry. Some species of oui- 

 beautiful meadow rue have perfect flowers on 

 one plant, all staminate on another, and all 

 pistillate on a third. So various and beautiful 

 are the ways in which the great ends of vege- 

 tation are accomplished. C. D. 



Roches'er, July, 1848. 



Wool Matresses. — Mr. Ancrum, of Ashley, 

 Pike county, Mo., has a communication publish- 

 ed in the Report of Mr. Burke, Commissioner 

 of Patents, on the subject of wool matresses. It 

 is new to us, never having seen one. 



Mr. Ancrum says that they make the "health- 

 iest, the warmest, the most luxurious, the cheap- 

 est and most economical bed that can be made," 

 and that it is superior to any other material for 

 a bed for men, women, and children of all ages 

 and sexes, and that man recovers much sooner 

 from fatigue on such a bed than on any other. 



This is a high recommendation, and as wool is 

 rather a drug in the market, hadn't it better be 

 made up into feather beds? — Maine Farmer. 



Rationale of Climate. — However greal 

 may be the fluctuations of temperature in the 

 same months and seasons— however sultry the 

 summer or cold the winter, in any particular 

 year, its mean temperature varies but little from 

 the climatic or average actual mean of the local- 

 ity, when once correctly ascertained ; and, even 

 the greatest variation between one year, and any 

 other the most opposite in character, and exten- 

 ding over a long period of time, when accurately 

 expressed in figures, appears so trivial, that ex- 

 cept to the meteorologist it fails to convey any 

 adequate idea of the excess or deficiency of heat, 

 or of the absolute difference in temperature be- 

 tween the periods in queslion.— Jameson's Jour. 



