No. 133.] 439 



itself, that contains within it the pollen, and when it comes to ma- 

 turity, it hursts and discharges it for the impregnation of the ger- 

 men. Flowers that have not the stamen, are female ; such as have 

 it, but not the pistillum, are male ; those that have them both, 

 hermaphrodite; and such as have neither, neuter. The pistil- 

 lum is the female part of the flower, designed for the reception of 

 the pollen. It consists of three parts ; the style, stigma, and ger- 

 meu. The germen is the rudiment of the fruit accompanying the 

 flower, but not yet arrived at maturity. The style is the part 

 which elevates the stigma from the germen. The stigma is the 

 top of tlie pistillum, and is covered with moisture for the breaking 

 of the pollen. The pericarpum is the germen arrived at maturi- 

 ty. These are the constituent parts of the flower. In the case of 

 perennial plants, every flower is formed months before it makes its 

 appearance ; for example, the rhododendrum may be examined, 

 or you may carefully separate the coats of the tulip root in the 

 beginning of September, and the flower which is" to appear in the 

 spring following, will be found in a small cell, formed by the 

 innermost coats. 



Fruit consists of nearly the same parts as are found in the stem • 

 of a skin, which is a continuation of the skin of the bark, and of 

 an outer parenchyma, which is the same substance continued 

 from the bark, only that its vessels are larger and more succulent. 

 Next the core there is an inner pulp ; the core is no more than a 

 hard, woody membrane, enclosing the seed, which is a deciduous 

 part of a vegetable containing the rudiments of a new one. 



The Operations of Fertilizers. — Though plants of diflerent spe- 

 cies may be found growing on the same soil immediately contio-u- 

 ousto each other, if they are burned to an ash and analysed, will be 

 found in every instance to contain either different substances or 

 different proportions of the same. Grow a grain of rye and a pea 

 together, the stem of rye will contain a large percentage of silica 

 and the pea none at all. Grain grown in soils unlike in compo- 

 sition, always contain the same earthy matter in the same propor- 

 tion; the relative quantities of alumini, lime, silica, magnesia, will 

 be the same in all. This shows plainly that the spongiolps of 

 plants possess the power of choosing from the soil those matters 



