DIVISION II. 



THE STRUCTURE OF THE PLANT AND 

 OFFICES OF ITS ORGANS. 



CHAPTER L 



GENERALITIES. 



We have given a brief description of those elements 

 and compounds which constitute the plant in a chemical 

 sense. They are the materials— the stones and timbers, so 

 to speak — out of which the vegetable edifice is built. It 

 is important in the next place to learn how these building 

 materials are jsut together, what positions they occupy, 

 what purposes they serve, and on what plan the edifice is 

 constructed. 



It is impossible for the builder to do his work until he 

 has mastered the plans and specifications of the architect. 

 £o it is hardly possible for the farmer with certainty to 

 contribute in any great, especially in any new degree, to 

 the upbuilding of the plant, unless he is acquainted with 

 the mode of its structure and the elements that form it. 

 It is the happy province of science to add, to the vague and 

 general information which the observation and experience 

 of generations has taught, a more definite and particular 

 knowledge, — a knowledge acquired by study purposely 

 and carefully directed to special ends. 



An acquaintance with the parts and structure of the plant 

 is indispensable for understanding the mode by which 

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