1 
OF NATURE. 59 
and divide into branches. And there is the 
jnore reafon for thinking fo, becaufe we know 
that a tree will grow in an inverted fituation, 
viz. the roots being placed upwards, and the 
head downwards, and buried in the ground $ 
for then the branches will become roots, and 
the roots will produce leaves, and flowers. The 
lime-tree will ferve for an example, on which 
gardeners have chiefly made the experiment. 
Yet this by no means overturns the do&rine, 
that all vegetables are propagated by feeds ; flnce 
it is clear that in each of the foregoing inftan-. 
ces nothing vegetates but what was part of a 
plant, formerly produced from feed, fo that, 
accurately fpeaking, without feed no new plant 
is produced. 
Thus again plants produce feeds, but they 
are entirely unfit for propagation, unlefs fe- 
cundation precedes, which is performed by an 
intercourfe between different fexes, as experi- 
ence teftifies. Plants therefore muff be pro- 
vided with organs of generation ; in which re-? 
fpe£t they hold an analogy with animals . 
Since in every plant the flower always precedes 
the fruit, and the fecundated feeds vifibly 
arife from the fruit ; it is evident that the or- 
gans qf generation are contained in the flower, 
which 
