282 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



seed, and in each delicate bud, there is a germ, 

 which, under certain circumstances, will produce 

 a full and perfect vine. Now, it appears to me 

 this could not be the case, unless there was, be- 

 sides the general circulation of the sap in the 

 whole plant, a particular circulation in each of 

 these parts belonging to it individually, and act- 

 ing independently, although forming a part of the 

 whole general circulation. In each of these sep- 

 arate individual circulations or systems dwells all 

 the fulness of the vine. Each power, function, 

 property and characteristic of the parent is there ; 

 and if, by some catastrophe, the entire vine, with 

 the exception of one single bud, should be de- 

 stroyed, from that a vine in every respect identi- 

 cal with the other could be raised. 



The strawberry plant is another beautiful illus- 

 tration of this principle. In the bud which slow- 

 ly creeps out of the bosom of the parent, and 

 grows until its own weight bends the long and 

 slender stem to the earth, is the delicate frame- 

 work of a new life. As soon as the eager roots- 

 lets establish a telegraphic communication with 

 the soil, the new system is complete. The pla- 

 centa is severed, and a new creation stands before 

 us. But why multiply instances familiar to all. 

 If this principle of separate circulation in the dif- 

 ferent parts is established, will it not lead us to a 

 truer knowledge of the general system ? 



Now, I do not pretend to say that I have made 

 one step in advance towards the attainment of 

 that object ; nor do I think I ever shall ; but what 

 I have to say may set others to thinking, and in 

 the end truth may be evolved. 



All plants, whether good and useful, or noxious 

 and hurtful, are in the constant effort to repro- 

 duce their species, and, as this is their legitimate 

 business in life, every faculty is directed to that 

 object. Every bud, within which is the germ of 

 a new life, is an especial object of maternal care 

 and solicitude. Safely lodged at the base of the 

 petiole, and securely wrapped in its tiny cradle, it 

 is rocked to sleep by the gentle breezes, and fed 

 every morning with the sparkling dewdrop. The 

 purest and best portions of the elaborated sap, 

 fresh from the laboratory of the leaf, is devoted 

 to it, invigorating and strengthening every part, 

 and each day adding just what is needed for its 

 support. 



At the close of the year, the change in the col- 

 or, and finally the fall of the leaf, announces that 

 it's task has been completed ; the organization of 

 the new life is full and perfect, and the happy pa- 

 rent goes to her rest to prepare for new offspring 

 with the new year. 



Here is the corner-stone and key to the whole 

 superstructure. Every bud so formed becomes 

 the centre of a new system, and whether cut from 

 the parent stem and planted alone, or conjoined 

 to another vine, or left where it originally grew, 

 has Avithin itself the capacity to grow and impart 

 to its offspring every peculiarity of form and color 

 which characterized the pai-ent vine. Now, let us 

 inquire, if the sap is "all changed into wood" at 

 the fall of the leaf, or is "evaporated," or "de- 

 scends to the roots," what is this mysterious sub- 

 stance upon which the light and heat of the sun 

 in spring has such an influence ? 



I have not been able to satisfy my mind fully 

 upon this point ; but so far as my experiments 

 have gone, they have fui'nished me with conclu- 



sive proof that the sap does not descend to the 

 roots in the autumn, in greater quantities than it 

 does during the growing season ; but on the con- 

 trary, as soon as the fall of the leaf indicates that 

 the new buds are perfected, the general circula- 

 tion of the plant becomes more and more ob- 

 structed by congregations of albumen, starch, sug- 

 ar, &c., in the alburnum and cellular tissues of 

 the medullary rays, the spiral canals in the med- 

 ullary sheath, and pith of the newly formed wood, 

 and finally becomes congealed by the action of 

 frost, so as to appear entirely motionless. This 

 takes place first in the extremities, then in the low- 

 er parts of the branches, and sometimes through- 

 out the trunk, when the plant may be said to pass 

 into a state corresponding to that which plants of 

 another kind find so necessary once in every twen- 

 ty-four hours. During this period, cut a vine 

 where you please, and you can not make it part 

 with its sap. The duration of this sleep varies, 

 of course, with different plants ; Avith some, not 

 more than one month elapses before they are ' 

 awakened ; with others, two, three, six months, 

 regulated by the degrees of cold to which they 

 are subjected, and the peculiar nature of the plant. 



Now, as I have repeatedly observed — and I find 

 my experiments confirmed by Carpenter and oth- 

 ers — as the sap in the young and tender stems on 

 the extremities was the first to become congealed 

 and solid (if I may use the term) in the autumn, 

 so it was the first to become liquified and active 

 again in the spring. Now commences Avhat I have 

 called the particular circulation in each of the buds 

 or new systems. The warm rays of the sun, act- 

 ing upon the cellular tissue of the young bark 

 around the bud, dissolve the congealed fluids, and 

 they pass downwards, enter the medullary rays to 

 the spiral vessels in the medullary sheath, through 

 which they ascend, and flow outwards through the 

 medullary rays again to the bark, thus forming a 

 complete circle. Whilst this is going on, the con- 

 gealed mass in the alburnum also feels the influ- 

 ence of the sun's rays, and becoming liquified, 

 presses upon the thickened mass in the cells next 

 below them, and they in their turn upon those ad- 

 joining them, and so on until a communication is 

 opened with the roots, when instantly a new actor 

 steps upon the stage, a stranger whom the school- 

 men call Endosmose. The entire upper cells of 

 the plant being now filled to repletion with thick, 

 gummy matter, the general circulation goes on 

 very slowly at first, until by means of this new 

 agent, the delicate walls of the root-cells are 

 opened, and in a thousand streams, the rains and 

 melted snows of the past winter, holding in solu- 

 tion mineral ingredients necessary for the support 

 of the plant, rush into the alburnum, converting 

 stai'ch into sugar, tempering, absorbing, and dis- 

 persing the obstructions in the sap-cells, and pro- 

 ducing all over the plant that abundant flow which 

 has no doubt given birth to the theory of the "as- 

 cent of the sap from the roots." Sometimes this 

 goes on for weeks and months before the opening 

 of the leaf and flower buds. 



I have known these fluids to be circulating free- 

 ly in a grape vine in February, and yet the leaves 

 and blossoms not unfold before May. Well, now, 

 suppose there Avas no descent of sap through the 

 cellular tissues of the bark to the roots, no depos- 

 it of cambium on the exterior of the alburnum, 

 what amount of sap, think you, would rise in two 



