ON THE INTERIOR BUDS OF ALL PLANTS. f 



wore like wheat, and when the fourth knot is ]>erfcctefl the 



meal is quite milky and sweet to the taste ; Hnd when the 



embryo is ready to be covered by it, as at P, it is the vessels 



PP that convey the meat to the embryo, when ' is little corveymg the 



more than very thick milk, which soon however hardens™^* 



when spread on the embryo, and when the buds next appear 



they are covered by it, though before absolutely destitute of 



it. As in every other flower, each part is produced by its 



own appropriate matter: the male by the wood, the female 



by the line of life; the bark produces the scales, and the 



inner bark the meal. Thus all concur with other plants to 



show the truth of that fact. All grain as well as grasses are 



alike in their formation, they differ only in the quantity of A little dif- 



meal with which their seeds are covered: there is however ch^ni^^ inThe 



in the grasses some little difference in the mechanism, but grasseb. 



not worth mentioning. 



Though a digression I cannot help here giving a piece 

 of information, which appears to me of no little consequence. 

 We suppose that seed to be the finest for producing wheat- 

 flour, which has on it the greatest quantity of meal. I have 

 repeatedly tried the experiment, and two gentlemen have also 

 essayed the same ; to sow a part of a field with refuse wheat. Refuse when 

 provided the seed is perfect. The difference of product be- 

 tween this and the finest and largest seed that could be pro- 

 cured was not to be discovered. Provided the embryo is 

 strong, the quantity of meal on it signifies little ; for the 

 best covered is certainly not the strongest producer. In 

 dissecting wheat I have always found that seed with the 

 largest star or hilum gave the greatest retvirns, and not the would save u» 

 one most covered with meal. Much care should be taken "^"^^^ ^®"^' 

 to choose seed from a field where there has been no smut, 

 no corn cryptogamia, and to prefer seed not taken from a 

 thrashing machine, or lime and sand floor, for they all in 

 fcome measure injure; the first two indeed to a great degree: 

 but its being only thin of flour is far from being against it, 

 on the contrary, the embryo is often the stouter for it* 

 Nature keeping the embryo such a time without meal is 

 surely a hint to us, and shows that it does not siren gthen 

 the plant. 



I now turn to my fourth example evinced in the palms, 4th example. 



arums. 



