THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 95 



fro through the spider-line connecting link to support exhalation and 

 inhalation in that heated and arid atmosphere. 



In short, in many experiences about the growth of shrubs and 

 vegetables, there are reminders of the methods and resources that 

 inhere to animal existence. Thus we see, in the cultivation of many 

 edible roots, that when such meet with accidental injuries, as from 

 the gnawing of mice, or bites of trespassing animals, a prompt heal- 

 ing process sets in that is thoroughly remedial in its nature. Cellu- 

 lar growth becomes very active, similar to that occurring on the 

 surface of the animal body after a burn or scald, and the vegetable 

 organism, though somewhat deformed in shape, accomplishes the 

 principal aim of its existence. On the other hand, when the nour- 

 ishing underground fibrous appendages meet with bruises or 

 abrasions, speaking of the mangel or turnip, there is a tendency to 

 the production of tumors and unsymmetrical, wart-like accretions. 



It is probable that departures and deviations from regularity of 

 structure are of more frequent occurrence than many are aware of, 

 as few are sufficiently observant to pay attention to such objects, or 

 to report them. Only a few days ago I was invited to go and ex- 

 amine a peculiarity of development in a tomato plant which was 

 described as having fourteen or fifteen ripe tomatoes all massed and 

 united on the top of the stem, which, like the thistle curiosity, was 

 devoid of branches, and an instance of the preponderance of the 

 centripetal action on the structure. 



The opposite ter;dency is the normal one, and can be detected 

 in the branching sunflower, Helenium divaricatus or multiflorus, 

 which we sometimes see growing wild in low sandy woodlands 

 around Otterville. And occasionally in forest trees, when the first 

 stem has been accidently bruised or destroyed, a number of off- 

 shoots branch from the crown of the root, and instead of one 

 towering stem, eight or nine will immediately succeed to the func- 

 tion of the exterminated one. 



Experiments with a view to test the morphologic powers of 

 many of the hardy, weed-like plants would yield interesting, if not 

 profitable results. 



Lesions in the vegetable tissue are sometimes the result of 

 bruises from the tramping of animals, and there is room for conjee- 



