216 LEAFLESS PARASITES. PROPAGATION OF VARIETIES. 



nettle, clover, and other plants, round which it coils in a direc- 

 tion contrary to that of the sun. When luxuriant, the Dodder 

 gives a strange appearance to the herbs and bushes on which it 

 grows, covering them, as it were, with a veil of reddish, leafless 

 stalks, studded with blossoms. Their seeds, unlike those of most 

 other parasitic plants, germinate in ordinary soil ; but if the seed- 

 lings be kept there, they will soon wither and die, from the want 

 of their peculiar nutriment. Some parasitic species derive a part 

 of their aliment, in their adult condition, from true roots spread 

 through the soil ; but are still dependent for most of the solid 

 matter they require, upon the supply of ready-elaborated sap, 

 which they obtain by their suckers from the plants, upon whose 

 bark they fix them. 



345. From these naturally parasitic plants, we may pass to 

 those, which are rendered so by artificial means. It will be here- 

 after explained (Chap, xn.), that the cultivated varieties of plants 

 cannot be propagated with any certainty by seeds, from which 

 we are only sure of obtaining new plants of the same species 

 (. 15). Thus, the seeds of a Golden Pippin or of a Russet, 

 sown in different soils, will all produce plants bearing Apples of 

 some sort ; but these are not likely to bear any greater resem- 

 blance to the parent, or to each other, than all Apple-trees have 

 to their kind ; and the character of their fruit will be quite un- 

 certain, it being little better, if the soil be poor, than that of 

 the Crab, from which all the varieties of Apple have originated. 



346. In order to propagate any particular variety of fruit or 

 flower, the cultivator reserves some of the leafy buds of the tree 

 or plant, and places these in circumstances favourable to their 

 growth. In many instances, the leaves or leaf-buds have the 

 power of forming roots for themselves ; and this is especially the 

 case, when the neighbouring part contains a temporary supply 

 of nourishment for them, such as the tuber of the potato imparts 

 to the eyes or buds it contains. Thus, if the young branches of 

 a Vine be cut into as many pieces as there are leaf-buds, and 

 these be properly laid in a favourable soil, and stimulated to 

 growth by heat and moisture, they will soon put out roots and 

 become perfect plants ; being at first supported by the nutritious 



