RESULT OF OBSERVATIONS. 303 



to be better to be a little too early than too late ; for 

 the gain is in two directions, — in a greater nutritive 

 substance at the time of blossoming, which is certainly 

 a sufficient consideration of itself, and in the larger 

 . growth of the lattermath, which will spring up on good 

 land and in a good season. 



We might also reason from analogy in other plants ; 

 for it is a weU-known fact that the best vegetable ex- 

 tracts for medicinal and other purposes are procured 

 from plants when in blossom. Prof. Kirtland, of Ohio, 

 states that an observing practical farmer of his 

 neighborhood, after many careful observations on the 

 growth of Timothy, has arrived at these propositions : 



1. That Timothy grass is a perennial plant, which 

 renews itself by an annual formation of " bulbs," or per- 

 haps, more correctly speaking, tubers, in which the 

 vitality of the plant is concentrated during the winter. 

 These form in whatever locality the plant is selected, 

 without reference to dryness or moisture. From these 

 proceed the stalks which support the leaves and head, 

 and from the same source spread out the numerous 

 fibres forming the true roots, 



2. To insure a perfect development of tubers, a cer- 

 tain amount of nutrition must bt assimilated in the 

 leaves, and returned to the base of the plant, through 

 the stalk, 



3. As soon as the process of nutrition is completed, 

 it becomes manifest by the appearance of a state of 

 desiccation, or dryness, always commencing at a point 

 directly above either the first or second joint of the 

 stem, near the crown of the tuber. Prom this point the 

 desiccation gradually progresses upwards, and the last 

 portion of the stalk that yields up its freshness is that 

 adjoining the head. Coincident with the beginning of 

 this process is the full development of the seeds, and 



