POLLEN. 
79 
If you have paid attention to what has been said respecting the 
pollen, you perceive that wonders exist in nature, which are entire- 
ly unperceived by a careless observer. Who could have imagined 
tnat the yellow dust seen upon the hly or tulip, and scarcely visible 
upon many other flowers, exhibited appearances so interesting ? It 
is in part to show you the almost unlimited extent of the field of ob- 
servation, in the works of nature, that we have dwelt upon this subject 
Another purpose, and one more connected with our present de- 
sign, in calling your attention to this subject, is to show the use of 
the pollen in the vegetable economy. You have seen the effect of 
moisture upon the pollen ; you will recollect that the stigma was 
said to be imbued with a liquid substance, and that the anther, when 
ripe, throws out the pollen by the spontaneous opening of its lids or 
valves ; the pollen coming in contact with the moist stigma, each 
little sack explodes, and the subtle penetrating substance which it 
contains, being absorbed by the stigma, passes through minute pores 
into the germ. 
In the germ are seeds formed, but these seeds require the agency 
of the pollen to bring them to the perfection necessary for producing 
their species. You perceive now why the stamens and pistils are so 
essential to the perfection of a plant. Nature does not form a beau- 
tiful fiovv^er, and then leave it to perish without any provision for 
a future plant; but in every vegetable provides for the renewal of 
the same. 
The real use of stamens and pistils was long a subject of dispute 
among philosophers, till Linnaeus explained it beyond a possibility of 
doubt ; these organs have from the most remote antiquity been con- 
sidered of great importance in perfecting the fruit. The Date 
palm, which was cultivated by the ancients, bears stamens and pis- 
tils on separate trees ; the Greeks discovered, that in order to have 
good fruit it was necessary to plant the two kinds of trees near to- 
gether, and that without this assistance, the dates had no kernel, and 
were not good for food. 
In the East, at the present day, those who cultivate palms select 
trees with pistillate flowers, as these alone bear fruit. When the 
plant is in blossom, the peasants gather branches of the wild palm- 
trees, with staminate flowers, and strew the pollen over their culti- 
vated tre-es. 
Pistillate flowers are called fertile, staminate, infertile flowers. 
As moisture causes the pollen to explode, rains and heavy dews 
are sometimes injurious to plants ; the farmer fears wet weather 
while his corn is in blossom. Nature has kindly ordeYed that most 
flowers should either fold their petals together, or hang down their 
heads when the sun does not shine ; thus protecting the pollen from 
injury. 
The fertilization of the fig is said to be accomphshed by insects. 
In this singular plant, the fruit encloses the flower; it is, at first, a 
hollow receptacle, lined with many flowers, seldom both stamens 
and pistils in the same fig. This receptacle has a small opening at 
the summit. The seeds are fertilized by certain little flies, flutter- 
ing from one fig to the other, and thus carrying the pollen from the 
staminate to the pistillate flowers. 
Although the fertihzation of plants, where the stamens and pistils 
are on separate flov/ers, depends a little upon chance, the favoura- 
Use of the pollen in the vegetable economy— Real use of the stamens and pistils un- 
known till the time of Linnseus— Cultivation of plants in the East— Flowers fold their 
petals in wet weather— Fertilization of the fig— Various methods by which nature con- 
veys pollen to the pistillate plants. 
