1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



333 



outside parties contribute, will probably reach one 

 hundred tons of raw material. Many famiers in 

 the vicinity have interested themselves in this new 

 feature of farm produce, and we hope that the 

 manufacture of sugar from the beet, which has 

 thus f;jr proved unsuccessful in this country, will 

 eventually prove as profitable here as it has done 

 in Europe. 



For the JVeto England Farmer. 

 BOTANY FOB FAKMBRS. 



AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STIDY OF UOTANY, 

 FOR YOUNG FARMERS, AND FARMERS* SONS. 



Every farnfcr should possess a general 

 knowledge of the science of botany. Espe- 

 cially should young farmers and farmers' sons 

 acquire a tolerable acquaintance with this 

 bighl}' interesting and useful branch of nat- 

 ural history. The excellent treatises of Gray 

 *and Wood, to say nothing of other works of 

 real merit, will enable any person of average 

 intellect to become a good practical botanist; 

 and that, without the assistance of a teacher. 

 It is necessary, only, that he devote a con- 

 siderable portion of his leisure moments to 

 careful study, and examine closely the trees, 

 plants, weeds, and Howers by which he is 

 daily surrounded. Indeed, the time that is 

 wasted, and oftentimes worse than wasted, by 

 most young persons, would, if devoted to the 

 perusal of books on Botany, Chemistry, Geol- 

 ogy, jNlineralogy, Physiology, &c., make them 

 well acqiKiinted with the general principles of 

 natural science ; and while contributing es- 

 sentially to their mental gratification, bodily 

 health, and the more successful prosecution of 

 their business, would also enlarge and improve 

 their hearts by leading their thoughts from 

 Nature up to Nature's God. 



We earnestly hope that what we shall say 

 in this article concerning the first principles 

 of botany, may induce the young readers of 

 the Nkw ExciLAXD Faumer to avail them- 

 selves of the abler and more extensive works 

 above mentioned, and thus become, as they 

 surely can, thoroughly acquainted with this 

 most interesting study. 



Botany treats of the Vegetable Kingdom. 

 It considers the forms, organs, structure, 

 growth, and uses of plants, together with their 

 history and classification. The Vegetable 

 Kingdom comprises two great branches, or 

 grand divisions, — Fhamoyamov^ or flowering 

 plants, and Ciyptogamous or Uowerless plants. 



Pii^NOGAMOUS Plants bear true flowers, 

 and produce seeds having a seed-leaf or seed- 

 leaves. Each seed-leaf is called a cotyledon, 

 some plants having one, and some two coty- 

 ledons or seed-leaves. In the cotyledon is 

 enveloped a ready formed embryo., which is 

 the germ of a new plant. Ph;enogamous 

 plants include all the higher forms of vegeta- 

 tion, and are naturally divided into two classes 

 or sub-divisions, — Exogens or outside grow- 

 ers, and Eadogens or inside growers. 

 3 



The Class Exogens comprises all ])lants 

 whose stems are composed of three distinct 

 parts — pith in the centre, hark outside, and 

 wood or woody substance between the two. 

 All trees, except the palms belong to this 

 class, as do most herbaceous plants of tem- 

 perate regions. Exogenous plants have net- 

 veined leaves, and bear seeds with two or 

 more cotyledons or seed-leaves ; hence, they 

 are often called Dicotyledonous plants. Tiie 

 two parts into which a bean, a pumpkin seed, 

 or an apple seed readily divides, and which 

 form the first two leaves of the young plant 

 are the cotyledons. 



The Exogens all grow by additions to the 

 outside, — a new layer being added just be- 

 neath the bark each year ; and thus the age 

 of the tree or shrub is indicated by the number 

 of concentric rings exhibited by a cross sec- 

 tion of its trunk or stem. This class nat- 

 urally divides into sub-classes, — Angiosperms 

 or covered-seeded plants, and Gymnosperins 

 or naked-seeded plants. 



The Angiosperms comprise all exogenous 

 plants which bear their seeds in a pericap 

 or seed-vessel, which is the case with all of 

 the plants belonging to this class, except the 

 cone-bearing trees, and a single family of 

 tropical plants. 



The Gymnospeisms comprise those plants 

 which bear their seeds attached to the iiuier 

 surface of a scale. Such are Pines, Hem- 

 locks, Spruces, Cedars, Larches, and other 

 cone-bearing trees. 



The Class Endogens embraces all flower- 

 ing plants whose stems are not composed of 

 concentric layers, but whose woody substance 

 is distributed through the stems in threads and 

 bundles. Plants of this class have j^arallel- 

 veined leaves which surround the stem like a 

 sheath, and decay without falling oil'; and 

 they bear seeds with only one cotyledon or 

 seed-leaf. Such are the Grasses, Indian Corn, 

 and other kinds of Grain, the Field Lilies, 

 Solomon's Seal, Lil)' of the Valley, the Palm- 

 Tree, Sugar-cane, Bamboo, &c. 



Cry'ptogamous Plants do not bear real 

 flowers, nor do they produce seeds with a co- 

 tyledon, or with cotyledons ; but they produce 

 something analogous to flowers, and are pro- 

 pagated by spores instead of seeds. These 

 spores are minute, dust-like bodies, having 

 neither integuments nor embryo, but {)roduce 

 their root and stem indilFerently from any 

 point of their surface, instead of germinating 

 from a fixed point, as is the case in phieno- 

 gamous plants. 



This grand division, Cryptogamia, co\a- 

 prises all the lowest forms of vegetation on 

 the globe, and is divided into three classes, 

 as follows : 1st. Acrogens, which iiu;ludes 

 those plants whose growth is wholly or mainly 

 at their summit, as the Ferns, commonly called 

 Brakes; the Club-mosses, or those evergreen, 

 trailing plants found in pastures and wood- 

 lands, and often gathered for festoons, &c., 



