THE FLOWER. 



Mrs. B. I am far from having enumerated them all, 

 for every different mode in which the pedicels diverge 

 from the main stem, and which produces a different ar- 

 rangement of flowers, bears its own peculiar name ; but the 

 whole is included in the term inflorescence, which expres- 

 ses the various modes in which the stem of a flower is di- 

 vided, and, consequently, the arrangement of the flowers 

 upon it. 



Plants blossom at regular periods ; varying, however, 

 according to the temperature of the country in which they 

 grow, and the vicissitudes of the season. Linnaeus form- 

 ed a register of the season of flowering of different plants, 

 which he called the Calendar of Flora, but no allowance 

 beino- made for these modifications, it is very imperfect. 



Emily. I have observed that there are some trees 

 which regularly blossom earlier than others, of the same 

 species and in the same situation : whence does this arise ? 



Mrs. B. It is not ascertained : but as every peculiarity 

 of an individual plant is preserved when it is propagated 

 by layers, slips, or grafts, advantage has been taken of this 

 anomaly to produce early vegetation. Mr. Knight, by 

 carefully selecting those potatoes which first sprouted for 

 replanting, obtained in the course of a few years plantations 

 of potatoes very considerably earlier than the usual season. 



In hot climates the fig-tree produces two crops of fruit : 

 and it is in some countries necessary to accelerate the 

 ripening of the first, in order to leave time for the second 

 to come to maturity, in due season. With this view, the 

 peasants in the isles of the Archipelago, where this fruit 

 abounds, brings branches of wild fig-trees in the spring, 

 which they spread over those that are cultivated. 



Emily. This is, no doubt, the same process as that of 

 the fructification of the palm-trees in Persia. 



Mrs. B. It was long supposed to be so ; but it is now 

 ascertained that the cases are quite different, the only use 

 of these wild branches being to serve as a vehicle to a 

 prodigious number of small insects, called cynips, which 

 perforate the figs in order to make a nest for their eggs, 



1162. By what term are the further varieties of flowering expressed? 

 1163. What is said of the periods at which plants blossom! 1164. 

 In what manner did Mr. Knight cause potatoes to become unusually ear- 

 ly 1 ? 1165. What is said of the fruit fig-trees in hot climates'? 1166, 

 Of what use in ripening the fruit were the branches of wild fig-treesl 



