THE SEEDLING AND YOUNG PLANT. 75 



forms numbers of these Lammas shoots every year, and 

 the tendency to produce them seems to be capable of 

 being inherited. 



The process of sprouting, or putting forth the shoot 

 from the bud, is the same in all the cases. As the tem- 

 perature and other conditions improve in the spring, for 

 instance, the process of cell-division in the growing- 

 point (and its derivatives, the young leaves, etc.) goes 

 on rapidly, and the stores of nourishment already there 

 and in the pith and other tissues close at hand are used 

 up. This originates a series of currents of food materi- 

 als setting slowly towards these centers of consumption 

 from other parts of the tree, and very soon the numer- 

 ous cells developed begin to absorb water with relatively 

 enormous rapidity and vigor. This brings about two 

 chief changes the rapid elongation of the parts of the 

 cone situated between the points of insertion of suc- 

 cessive leaves (i. e., the internodes), and the almost si- 

 multaneous expansion of the hitherto small and folded 

 leaves. Thus the rapid extension of the shoot is due 

 almost entirely to the energetic absorption of water into 

 cells for the most part already in existence. The chief 

 changes which follow consist in the perfection of the 

 structures the development and thickening of vascular 

 tissues, cell-walls, etc. 



This process of rapid extension does not occur in the 

 internodes between the bud-scales, or, at any rate, to a 

 slight degree only, just sufficient to enable the shoot to 

 throw the scales off; hence the base of the outgrown 



