8 



SUGAR BEET SEED. 



commenced to realize the relative part played by the 

 stamens and pistils, and it was riot until the 17th cen- 

 tury that there seemed to be any certainty on the ques- 

 tion. The well-known authority, Tournefort, decHne-1 

 to admit the facts as then presented; after his death, 

 however, Sebastian Vaillant, in his speech at the"Jardin 

 du Roi," showed the physiological function of stamens 

 and gave practical demonstrations of the truth of hii 

 assertion. This was in 1716, hence this date becomes 

 an important historical one in the whole botanical sci- 

 ence, and to France is due the main credit of the nev. 

 departure. Some eight or ten years afterward Linne 



Fig. 1, Appearance ol seed and 

 leaves on stalk or stem. 



Fig. 2. Outward appearance oC a 

 three-seed cluster. 



popularized the Vaillant truths — it was even then 

 noticed that if the stigmas were withdrawn the ovums 

 of the ovary could not be fertilized. The crossing of 

 plants of the same family was daily practiced in botan- 

 ical laboratories. On the other hand, there exists, 

 then and now,, one important exception to these fer- 

 tilizing facts, for we are told that in the Kew Gardens 

 of London they have a plant which yields seed from 

 year to year, yet there is no indication of its havino- 

 stamens. Upon general principles, we may admit 

 that the time or period that the fertilization of plants 



