194 SPRING. 



stances, the more that it is diffused from that point ; 

 though the general law of its diminution, or even the 

 particular law in any individual case, has not been 

 so much examined, as that it can be expressed in 

 numbers. 



In the individual too, it seems to diminish with the 

 lapse of time, as well as with extension in space ; and 

 the bringing of it within narrower limits in the one of 

 these cases, is often the means of giving it new vigour. 

 This is very obvious in the shortening of vines, the 

 pruning and heading down of fruit trees, topping 

 beans, pulling off leaves and buds in order to im- 

 prove flowers, and thinning fruits, to improve the 

 quality of those that are left. Operations of these 

 and analogous kinds, are familiar to every gardener ; 

 and though, as common operations, we do not heed 

 them, they are among the most philosophical as well 

 as the most agreeable and useful of human pursuits. 

 Without them England would never have produced an 

 apple or a loaf of bread. 



Thus, though the principle of vegetable life always 

 eludes us when we try to find it in a separate state, 

 just as gravitation or heat does, we can understand 

 and modify its action, just as we can the action of 

 these ; and therefore the practical use to us is the 

 same as if we could detach the principle, and tell what 

 it is. At its commencement we trace it to the germ 

 in the seed, the gem on the root, or the bud ; and in 

 many of the plants with which we are most familiar, 

 we find that the germ and the gem will produce entire 

 plants, which the bud will not do, unless placed in a 

 particular situation. The very same part of a plant 



