34 
GARDENING AS A SCIENCE. 
on the structure and offices of bulbs, we find that " bulbs are nothing but leaf- 
buds, with unusually fleshy scales, and with the power of separating spontaneously 
from the mother plants ; and flower-buds are, theoretically, little more than 
leaf-buds without the power of lengthening, but with the organs that cover them 
in a special state. " Again, if the bulb of a hyacinth very finely grown to outward 
appearance, but abortive in the centre, producing neither leaves nor flowers, 
be carefully inspected, it will be seen to form little embryo bulbs, reposing in 
channelled grooves, near the basal ring, which gradually enlarge and assume the 
figure of the parent bulb. 
Hyacinths of this season are thus defective, and therefore afford opportunities 
to the student which ought to be embraced. Now, these infant germs or buds 
are evidently mere vital points, but furnished from the first with all the organs 
of the parent ; they increase in bulk, lengthen, and assume perfect conformation, 
but present not one single proof that any part, not pre-existing, has been added 
to their organization. 
Another beautiful example of vegetable development, but from seed, is furnished 
by an experiment which we must detail at some length ; because, from the extreme 
facility with which it can be conducted, a vast deal of delightful information 
may be obtained. 
Collect in the season some acorns fresh from the oak, for this seed soon loses 
its vitality by keeping, or by lying exposed on the ground ; choose three or four 
of the largest and most weighty, and suspend them point downwards over water in 
hyacinth or other suitable glasses, by means of threads — each singly in one glass. 
The apex ought not to reach the water to within ith of an inch, and the upper 
ends of the thread should pass through a cork made to fit the orifice of the glass. 
Place the vessel on the mantel-shelf of a warm room, and in a few weeks, if the 
acorn be sound, the shell will crack and permit the radicle to emerge, and pass 
through the fissure into the water. A perfect root is speedily developed, from 
which laterals successively protrude : it assumes a curve, winds spirally round the 
glass, in a direction contrary to that of a hyacinth, and reaches the bottom. 
In time, which varies according to the degree of excitement, the plumule 
expands from the apex also, ascends, and attains the cork, in which a notch must 
be cut to permit the shoot to pass. A perfect plant is now seen, furnished with 
large masses of roots, a straight stem, three or four complete leaves : a certain 
number also of stipulse in pairs are arranged in a spiral order the entire length of 
the stem. 
Supposing that the acorn produces its shoot in December, we have seen it six 
inches high early in February ; in the course of the first spring it will attain its 
year's growth of perhaps fourteen inches, and retains its leaves till winter. The 
water being occasionally renewed, the roots increase, and in some instances produce, 
or at least are coated with, abundance of whitish granular masses, not unlike small 
fragments of tapioca : some of these adhere very feebly, and detach themselves 
