98 EXHAUSTING EFFECT OF FRUIT. 



because of its smaUness, the amount of this power is incon- 

 siderable : it contributes Httle to the general secretions of the 

 plant that bears it, depends for its nutriment upon the 

 neighbouring leaves, and expends its powers in the elaboration 

 of matter for its own use. That it does, however, form wood, 

 Uke ordinary leaves, is evident, if the flower-stalk of a Cherry 

 is compared with the stalk of the fruit of the same tree ; and 

 this becomes stiU more apparent when the elaborating forces 

 of many separate fruits are, in consequence of their compact 

 arrangement, brought to contribute to the lignification of a 

 common stalk, as in the Piuaster tree. 



The exhausting action of fruit is well illustrated by the well 

 known fact, that when plants cultivated for the sake of their 

 flowers only, are permitted to ripen their fruit, the power of 

 flowering in a succeeding season is diminished. This is seen 

 iu Rhododendrons, and Azaleas. When the Ehododendron goes 

 out of flower, it forms clusters of seed-vessels, which swell 

 during the summer, and by the autumn become ripe, whether 

 the seeds they contain are good or not. In their mature state 

 they are of considerable size ; and they arrive at it by feeding 

 upon the organizable matter formed in branches during summer 

 by the leaves. This organizable matter, if not consumed by 

 the seed-vessels, is stored up and applied to the formation of 

 flowers : if it is consumed in the creation of fruit it is abstracted 

 from whatever means the plant may have of generating flowers. 

 It is, therefore, obvious that to prevent the formation of fruit 

 is to promote the future production of flowers, and, acting upon 

 this principle, all good gardeners break off the young Ehodo- 

 dendron fruit, as soon as the flowers have fallen. The same 

 rule applies to all other «ases. 



The great purpose for which the fruit is formed seems to be 

 the protection and nutrition of the seed, the perfect maturation 

 of which is essential to the perpetuation of the races of plants. 

 In most cases the whole of the fluid or nutritious parts is 

 consumed in effecting this end ; but in certain instances there 

 is a surplus, which, if sweet, and unmixed with deleterious 

 secretions, becomes fit for food. In either case, the fruit has, in 

 common with leaves, the power of attracting food from the 



