Vegetable Pathology. 401 



stances they each live upon, produce fat in the one, and gum 

 or sugar in the other. 



Sexes. — As in animals the two sexes are distinct, so in vege- 

 tables they are equally marked and cognizable. The female 

 blossom, or that part of it which is to perfect seed, would be 

 barren without the presence of the male ; and the necessity of 

 the pollen coming in contact with the female stigma before 

 the seed can be perfected, is too well substantiated to require 

 further illustration here. In blossoms which have no male, 

 the winds, insects, and even the horticulturist himself, must 

 promote the hymeneal union. The entomologist, as well as 

 the botanist, in tracing the wonderful provisions of nature for 

 the perpetuation of the different species in each of their 

 respective pursuits, can easily appreciate the truth of their 

 wonderful analogy. 



Seeds. — The growth and preservation of vegetable life is 

 promoted and maintained, as in animals, by the plentiful and 

 regular motion of their fluids. Thus, when the seed has been 

 perfected by the pollen, and deposited in the womb of the 

 earth, and has swelled by the moisture which its vessels 

 absorb, and which stimulate its vital principle, the embryo 

 contained in it derives its nourishment by means so strictly 

 analogous to the infant animal, that the same terms may be 

 applied to either. The mother of the animal supplies it with 

 appropriate nourishment, so the vegetable has a similar fluid, 

 provided for its support ; and the albumen or white, and the 

 vitellus or yolk, which nourish the tender plant till it can 

 obtain its appropriate food by its own powers and exertions, 

 are in no way different from the blood and juices of the 

 parent animal till the birth of its young, and the milk which 

 sustains it afterwards. Each developes itself, and when at 

 maturity becomes something totally different from its original 

 appearance, either the giant oak of the forest, or the painted 

 beauty of the garden ; and there has taken place no greater 

 change, from the stage when the vital principle was first called 

 into action, than what has taken place in the tadpole that 

 swims in the water, or in the butterfly which flies in the air. 



Training. — In animals as well as vegetables, in their Avild 

 and uncultivated state, nature has been left to range free and 

 uncontrolled ; and the same grandeur of character marks each 

 in their respective attributes : but, when restrained by man, 

 and domesticated for his use, or cultivated for his food or 

 pleasure, then the education of the one and the training of 

 the other become equally necessary. The young plant, if left 

 to itself, would, like the animal, be injured by the luxuriance 

 and rankness of its growth, and be rendered useless to man if 

 Vol. VI. — No. 27. d d 



