GENERATION OF PLANTS. 367 



plant, according to the earliness of the shoot, as in the Privet, Cherry, &c. 

 Others, as the Holly, have all their buds growing into branches in the 

 same year. Others, again, never form lateral buds for branches, but 

 the shoot terminates in a cluster of buds, the outside ones intended for the 

 branches, the middle for the stem ; such are the Scotch Fir and Wey- 

 mouth Pine, which confine their branches to clusters. 



Some vegetables, as the common bean, would appear to have par- 

 ticular places for the formation of branches, or rather of stems, when 

 the original stem is destroyed by any accident, and which places are 

 to be considered as so many buds. 



Cut off a stalk below the first joints or leaves, then a new stalk 

 will grow out from the bean in the ground, which would not have 

 grown if the first stalk had not been destroyed. 



Cut off that new stalk below all the joints, and a new stalk or stalks 

 will still shoot out from the same bean. 



Cut off the stalk above the first shoot, joint, or leaf, then a new 

 stalk will not grow from the seed or bean, as in the former ones, but 

 from the joint, shoot, or leaf below. 



Cut off the stalk above the second joint, leaf, or shoot, and then two. 

 stalks will shoot out; one from the first joint, and one from the second. 



Cut off the top of the stalk above the fifth or sixth shoot, and the 

 new stalks will shoot from the first and second, &c. joints, but not 

 from the last joints, or those nearest to the top. 



Cut off the young shoot, and a third will grow out from the root of 

 that, so that these joints are similar to roots or seeds. 



Of Generation and Germination in Vegetables. — The male parts in 

 vegetables for the most part far exceed in number those of the female. 

 I am not now considering the seeds as a female part, they being only a 

 production of the female. 



The stamens, which are the spermatic vessel and testis, or true male 

 parts, are in much greater number than the styles or female parts ; 

 and the number of particles of the pollen, which are the production of 

 the male parts, far exceeds the number of seeds in the female. 



The produce or effects of the female parts are pretty well determined 

 with respect to number, viz. the number of seeds ; but the produce of 

 the male, although pretty well determined, yet its effects are not ; for 

 they do not make a part, but only are to affect the female part, and that 

 affection is in a good measure a matter of chance. It is like shooting 

 at a bird with a great many shots, when one would kill with certainty 

 if properly applied. 



As vegetables are every year, or are constantly, supplied with an 

 addition of vegetable matter everywhere on the outside, they must 



