AGRICULTURE AND PLANTING. 11 



On the Structure oj Vegetables. 



vicled into the plumula and rostel. 



The plumula is the scaly ascending part, conspicuous when a seed begins to 

 vegetate. 



The rostel, is the plain part of the corculum and always descends into the 



earth. 



■■ . >■■ ', 



2. The Cotyledon, or side of the seed, of a porous and perishable substance. 

 When, by a certain stimulus to the latent vital principle, vegetation commences, 

 innumerable small umbilical vessels may be seen ramifying on thie interior of the 

 cotyledons, which, uniting as they approach the seminal plant, form a small 

 chord to be inserted into the body of the germ, as seen in the garden bean. 



3. The Ai^Hus, or exterior covering of the seed, which comes off sponta- 

 neously. 



4. The Hilum, or external mark or scar on the seed, where it was fastened 

 to the pericarpium. 



VII. The Receptacle, is the base which connects the other parts of the 

 flower together, and is the termination of the pith. 



From this survey of the structure of plants, it is evident that there is an 

 intimate correspondence between all their parts, and that all those parts are the 

 same, only differing in shape. The roots are formed sharp and pointed, to make 

 their passage easier through the earth, and the leaves are rnade broad, to catch 

 the moisture of the air with more readiness, &c. The seed is preferable to all the 

 other parts for the re-production of the vegetable; because it contains these es- 

 sential parts in a natural preparation in which they are the most easily preserved, 

 the most conveniently disseminated, and, in suitable circumstances, the most 

 readily revived to vegetation; because, by means of the seeds, vegetables are uni- 

 versally re-produced, — but of some we know not to accomplish the re-production 

 by other means. 



k soixT of saccharine fermentation, — if wc may, without impropriety, cm- 

 ploy the term, — is necessary to prepare the seed for the revival of the energies of 



