312 GERMINATION 



never have gone about to cultivate timber in one 

 plant, by the very process whereby we destroy 

 timber in all other plants. Yet we have done 

 and we continue to do that ; for, grafting ex- 

 cepted, we breed oaks and peaches in the same 

 ground, and much after the same manner. We 

 may make some difference in the mould in which 

 they grow; or we may choose that which we fancy 

 will be the best for each ; but we do not even that 

 as observers of nature, at least as very attentive or 

 close observers ; for our good soil for oak is that 

 on which we have seen large oaks growing, 

 whether the timber of those oaks happened to be 

 good or bad. 



Let us return to our acorn and our embryo oak. 

 That embryo plant, we shall suppose, is just be- 

 ginning to be independent, by which time it may 

 have stricken its root six or eight inches into the 

 ground ; for the oak remains much longer on the 

 cotyledons than many other trees, and has also 

 a root and rootlets ready for action in the earth. 

 The cotyledons do not rise and partially take the 

 form and probably perform the functions of leaves, 

 as in many other plants ; so that the action of 

 the air is confined to the rising plumule, and the 

 true leaves which it puts forth. When the acorns 

 are sown by nature, they are sown on the surface, 

 not under it. By looking back to figure A, on 

 page 80, it will be seen that the sprout tends 

 downwards, as if to reach the ground, while the 

 acorn lies on its side upon the surface, though 

 even then the little tubercle which is to become 

 the tree keeps its apex upwards. It is evident, 

 therefore, that that part of the process is naturally 

 done in the air ; and, though seeds are better to 



