buds. 365 



They not only retain their colour after death when killed suddenly, 

 but they retain other properties ; for if dried in that state and wetted 

 again, they come back again much more nearly to the fresh plant than 

 those which die gradually or naturally*. 



Of the Natural Decay of Parts of Vegetables. 



Vegetables have many of their first-formed parts die while they are 

 forming new parts. Thus, many trees prune themselves, as probably 

 all of the Fir-tribe; but this is more or less according to circum- 

 stances. If a tree stands alone, so as to have a thorough air and light 

 surrounding its lower branches, there will not be that disproportion 

 between the branches and the leading shoot, as if the branches were 

 otherwise circumstanced, and in proportion as the branches are allowed 

 to grow, the leading shoot is more stinted in its growth. This is the 

 reason why in woods, where the trees are growing thick, they run 

 up tall and straight, and have few or no branches below ; for the 

 lower they are they become sooner under the influence of shade and 

 confined air, while the upper branches are not yet so long as to meet 

 each other, so as to exclude air and light in a considerable degree. 



Of the Effect of different Winters on Vegetables. — It appears from 

 observation that a long hard winter does more harm to vegetation than 

 a much severer season of a shorter duration. 



The January of 1775, when the thermometer was about 10°, 15°, 

 or 20°, did less harm than the spring of 1780, which was late, although 

 the thermometer was seldom lower than 20°. However, it may be 

 remarked that in the winter of 1775 there was a good deal of snow, 

 while in the winter of 1780 there was none. 



Buds. 



A plant that continues its shoot for two or more years, has always 

 terminated the preceding year in a bud. 



Buds are the ovum or the embryo of a shoot or flower. 



In the bud is contained the whole of the following year's shoot, and 

 when the shoot is fully blown or extended, then it forms another bud 

 or buds. It may be a continued bud, as in the ; or a con- 



tinued bud with lateral buds surrounding it, as in the Fir or Pine ; or the 

 continued bud may not be formed, but lateral buds only, as in the Lilac. 



* The mode of making hay might be improved by this principle 1 . 



1 [It is that on which the edible, soft and succulent vegetables are preserved by the 

 process invented by M. Masson, for which a ' Council Medal ' was awarded at the 

 " Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations" in 1851. See " Reports of the Juries," 

 8vo, vol. i. p. 156.] 



