288 VEGETABLE ORGANOGRAPHY. 



resembling cotton, which surrounds the young shoots, 

 and protects them, like fur, against frost, and also a 

 little against moisture. The buds of the Horse-chest- 

 nut are also examples of this structure. There are 

 some shrubs, as a species of Viburnum, where, accord- 

 ing to Kceler, the scales are wanting, and are replaced 

 by a cloth -like down. 



It is on seeing this important character of buds, and 

 comparing their existence in different plants, that we 

 have been led to conclude that trees devoid of scaly 

 buds cannot live in cold climates, and that those of 

 warm countries can only be acclimatized in the north, 

 which are furnished with them. These two rules are 

 generally true, but they are subordinate to the peculiar 

 nature of the leaves of each species, and both present 

 exceptions. Thus, Viburnum Lantana and Rhamnus 

 Frangula, although natives of cold countries, have no 

 scaly buds; and Palms, though furnished with petio- 

 laceous buds, cannot exist in the north. 



It would be curious to follow the vegetation of trees 

 of species like our own in very different climates, in 

 order to know — 1st, if the outer leaves of the young 

 shoots continue to be changed into scales, when the 

 trees are placed in a warm and very fertile climate ? 2d, 

 if certain trees, which in such climates do not present 

 this transformation, would not be liable to undergo it 

 in less warm climates, and if they could not be induced 

 to do so by culture ? If these two questions could be 

 answered in the affirmative, the field of naturalization 

 would be found greatly extended. 



The buds of trees usually proceed from the axils of 

 the leaves, and consequently the disposition of the 

 young shoots is determined by that of the leaves; but of 

 the buds which are developed, a great number sooner or 

 later become abortive, whence it results that the branches 



