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GARDENING AS A SCIENCE. 
No. IV. 
Assuming as the leading position of the theory of horticulture, that the seed is the 
origin and absolute nucleus of the future plant, wherein every organ and member 
of future developments pre-exist, though infinitely minute, we pursue the inquiry 
already commenced ; and shall appeal to actual experiments now in progress, but 
which have been repeated during a course of years with corresponding results. 
The order of all the specific developments of plants is constant to the character 
of each individual. As enough has been stated on the germination of the seed, it 
will be unnecessary to refer to that prime instrument of propagation further than to 
remind the reader that as the vitality of a seed must depend upon the impregnation 
of the embryo by farina, and as that farina may be introduced from a distant plant, 
varying materially in character, though strictly related, varieties must be the 
inevitable result. Hence, the florist, acting upon the principle of hybridization, has 
produced those numberless beauties which become the subjects of emulation, as they 
are the ornaments of our horticultural exhibitions. 
The culinary gardener has but too frequent occasion to lament the consequences 
of the intercourse between the members of the Brassica family ; while some 
physiologists — the great Knight, for instance — taking advantage of the circum- 
stance, and calling in the aid of science, have produced by impregnation noble 
varieties of the best vegetables and fruits ; whence the marrow and imperial peas, 
the protected broccolis, the superb Elton cherry and strawberry, the monarch, 
Belmont, and other pears. 
As seed, therefore, tends to produce variety, the modes of propagation by 
cuttings, layers, budding, grafting, and inarching secure the perpetuation of the one 
actual subject which it is the object to extend. We employ the word extend ad- 
visedly, because it conveys the idea of the production of parts hidden within an 
organization already formed, requiring only the application of appropriate means 
and stimulants to bring them into vital activity. 
A cutting is a member of any tree or shrub which (whatever be its bulk or 
minuteness) must contain, at the least, one vital germ, or system of life. Take, for 
example, among trees, a twig of the apple, pear, cherry, and plum : each leaf, at 
its axil or angle, has a projecting point or speck, which remains after " the fall," 
and gradually assumes the form of a bud. This bud contains within itself the 
rudiments of roots, of leaves, of shoots — all or portions of which are finally 
developed into a noble fructiferous tree. Let the reader, in his mind, contemplate 
this simple yet stupendous course ; and then, we ask, can any one of all the traceable 
phenomena lead him to conjecture for a single moment, that a particle of the whole 
vast tissue has been newly created ? 
VOL. IX. NO. C. M 
