CHAPTER VI. 



OF SEED-SATTrNG. 



The maturation of the seed, being a vital action indispen- 

 sable to the perpetuation of a species, is, in wild plants, 

 guarded from interruption by so many wise precautions, that 

 no artificial assistance is required in the process; but in 

 gardens, where plants are often enfeebled by domestication, 

 or exposed to conditions very different from those to which 

 they are subject in their natural state, the seed often 

 refuses to ripen, or even to commence the formation of an 

 lembryo. In such cases, the skill of gardeners must aid the 

 workings of nature, and art has to effect that which the 

 failing powers of a plant are unable to bring about of them- 

 selves. 



Sterility is a common malady of cultivated plants ; the finer 

 varieties of fruit, and all double and highly cultivated flowers, 

 being more frequently barren than fertile. This arises from 

 several different causes. 



The most common cause of sterility is an unnatural develop- 

 ment of some organ in the vicinity of the seed, which attracts 

 to itself the orgainizable matter that would otherwise be 

 applicable to the support of the seed. Of this the Pear, the 

 Pine-apple, and the Plantain are illustrative instances. The 

 nutrition which is intended for the seed is applied to the 

 enlargement of the fleshy part of such fruits, and the seeds 

 are starved. The more delicate varieties of Pear, such as the 

 Gansel's Bergamot and the Chaumontelle, have rarely any 

 seeds ; of Pine-apple, none, except the Enville now and then, 

 have seeds, and that variety, though a large one, is of little 



