296 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Nature distributes plants by buds may be mentioned the follow- 

 ing, viz. : By suckers from widely spread roots, as in the locust ; 

 by runners, as in the strawberry ; by subterranean stems, as in 

 the witch-grass and bind-weed ; by natural layers, as in the 

 gooseberry ; and by the rooting of the tips of canes or fronds, 

 as in the raspberry and walking fern ; finally, a few species of 

 plants, like the rose of Jericho in Palestine, the resurrection 

 plant of California, and the edible lichen of the Siberian 

 steppes, become detached from the soil, and are distributed in 

 all directions by the winds, during certain seasons of the year, 

 when vegetation is checked by drought or cold. When heat 

 and moisture return, and circumstances favor, these wanderers 

 take root again and renew their vegetative life. 



From the preceding statement it appears that buds, however 

 useful in cultivation for the multiplication and diffusion of 

 plants, are but imperfectly adapted for the preservation of 

 species under unfavorable influences, or for their distribution 

 over any wide extent of country. To accomplish these objects 

 with greater certainty, and also to provide for men and animals 

 more various, delicious and especially more nutritious articles 

 of vegetable food, Nature produces fruits containing seeds and 

 spores. The proper limits of this essay will admit only a very 

 general account of the structure and functions of the organs of 

 vegetable reproduction, and the modifications to which they 

 may be subjected by the intelligent efforts of man, but perhaps 

 even this may not be without interest and value. 



When seed-bearing plants reach a certain degree of size and 

 maturity, a peculiar kind of bud appears, in addition to the 

 ordinary leaf buds, which develops into a flower instead of a 

 leafy branch. In regard to size, at the period of first flowering, 

 plants vary from one-quarter of an inch in height to two hun- 

 dred feet ; and in respect to age from the seed, tliey vary from a 

 few weeks to a hundred years or more. Some species, like the 

 grape, begin to blossom very young and continue to do so for a 

 long period, while others, like the talipot palm, grow for many 

 years, and then produce an enormous number of flowers and 

 seeds, and die exhausted. That the flower bud is only a trans- 

 formed leaf bud is evident from many curious results of culti- 

 vation, such as the growth of green leaves in the centre of a 

 flower, or upon a fruit, or the conversion of the entire blossom 



