35'Z ®^ THE REPRODUCTIOK OF BUDS, 



been called the medullary procefs does not originate from th<s 

 medulla, I muft conclude that reproduced buds do not fpring 

 from tliat fubflance. 

 Remarks on the I have remarked, in a paper which you did me the honour 

 ^!s procefrof'^ ^^ ^^^ before the Royal Society in the commencement of the 

 nature is proba- prefent year, that the aiburnous tubes at their termination 

 tly efFeded. upwards invariably join the central veflels, and that thefe 

 veflels, which appear to derive their origin from the aiburnous 

 tubes, convey nutriment, and probably give exiftence to new- 

 buds and leaves. It is aifo evident, from the facility with 

 which the riling fap is transferred from one fide of a wounded 

 tree to the other, that the aiburnous tubes poflefs lateral as 

 well as terminal orifices : and it does not appear improbable 

 that the lateral as well as the terminal orifices of the aiburnous 

 tubes may polTefs the power to generate central velfelsi 

 which velFeis evidently feed, if they do not give exiftence to, 

 the reproduced buds and leaves. And therefore, as the pre- 

 ceding experiments appear to prove that the buds neither 

 fpring from the niedulla nor the bark, I am much inclined to 

 believe that they are generated by central vefiels which fpring 

 from the lateral orifices of the aiburnous tubes. The pra61ica- 

 bility of propagating forae plants from their leaves may feem 

 to ftand in oppofition to this hypothefis ; but the central vefiel 

 is always a component part of the leaf, and from it the bud 

 and young plant probably originate. 

 Attempt to dif- 1 expedled to difcover in feeds a fimilar power to regenerate 

 their buds; for the cotyledons of thefe, though diffimilar in 

 organization, execute the office of the alburnum, and contain a 

 fimilar refervoir of nutriment, and at once fupply the place of 

 the alburnum and the leaf. But no experiments, which I have 

 yet been able to make, have been decifive, owing to the diffi- 

 culty of alcertaining the number of buds previoufly exifting 

 within the feed. Few, if any, feeds, I have reafon to believe, 

 contain lefs than three buds, one only of which, except in 

 cafes of accident, germinates; and fome feeds appear to con- 

 tain a much greater number. The feed of the peach appears 

 to be provided with (en or twelve leaves, each of which pro- 

 bably covers the rudiment of a bud, and the feeds, like the 

 buds of the horfe-cheftnut, contain all the leaves and apparently 

 all the buds of the fucceeding year : and I have never beeo 

 able to fatisfy myfelf that all the buds were eradicated without 



having 



cover the fame 

 power in feeds 



