OF NATURAL HISTORY. 253 



fpecles ; becaufe, when it is difchnrged, the feeds are pad 

 the proper rcafon ; but, by flying proaiircuoufly abroad, this 

 pollen might impregnate different fpecies which happened 

 then to be in a fit condition for the reception of male influ- 

 ence. Confider the confequences of fuch an arrangement. 

 Is not this to make Nature operate againfl: her own inten- 

 tions ? Nature intends that plants fhould multiply and per- 

 petuate their kind?, ; but the fexual hypotheils makes her 

 take the moil effeclual meafarei to prevent that intention, 

 and to introduce univerfal anarchy among the vegetable 

 tribes. Were this theory true, the whole vegetable king- 

 dom, in a few years, would be utterly confounded : Inftead 

 of a regular fucceflion of marked fpecies, the earth would 

 be covered with monftrous produdlions, which no botanift 

 could either recognife or unravel. 



The propagation of plants by fuckers, flips, and cuttings, 

 is a curious h'St in the hiftory of vegetation. The ftrawber- 

 ry is commonly raifed by flips taken from the old root, or 

 by fuckers fent off from the plant. In either of thefe meth- 

 ods, the plants flourifh, and produce fruit. Many bulbous 

 and eye-rooted plants, and mofl fhrubs and trees, may be 

 propagated in the fame manner. "Where, it may be afked, 

 do thefe plants procure impregnation ? That they grow, and 

 produce fertile fruit, is undeniable ; and yet, according to 

 the fexual hypothefis, the pollen of the male is indifpenflbly 

 neceffary to the ripening and fertilization of the fruit. By 

 means of fuckers, flips, cuttings, an^i layers, the whole globe 

 might be fpread over with vegetables, without the poffibility 

 of a Angle impregnation. 



Though the argument from analogy fliould be inconclu- 

 five, yet, (zj the fexualifl:s, we appeal to fa<5ls. I fhall, 

 therefore, give a fliort view of the principal facls employed 

 to fupport the fexual intercourfe of plants. 



H H 



