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OF PLAXTS 
and nuts, incased in a strong shell, the shell itself enclosed 
in a pulp or husk, by which the seed within is, or hath 
been, fed; or, more generally, (as in grapes, oranges, and 
the numerous kinds of berries,) plunged over head in a 
glutinous sirup, contained within a skin or bladder: at 
other times (as in apples and pears) embedded in the heart 
of a firm fleshy substance; or (as in strawberries) pricked 
into the surface of a soft pulp. 
These and many other varieties exist in what we call 
fruits* In pulse, and grain, and grasses; in trees, and 
shrubs, and flowers; the variety of the seed-vessels is in¬ 
computable. We have the seeds (as in the pea tribe) reg¬ 
ularly disposed in parchment pods, which, though soft and 
membranous, completely exclude the wet, even in the 
heaviest rains! the pod also, not seldom (as in the bean) 
lined with a fine down; at other times (as in the senna) 
distended like a blown bladder: or we have the seed 
enveloped in wool (as in the cotton plant,) lodged (as in 
pines) between the hard and compact scales of a cone, or 
barricadoed (as in the artichoke and thistle) with spikes 
* From the conformation of fruits alone, one might be led, even with¬ 
out experience, to suppose, that part of this provision was destined for 
the utilities of animals. As limited to the plant, the provision itself 
seems to go beyond its object. The flesh of an apple, the pulp of an 
orange, the meat of a plum, the fatness of the olive, appear to be more 
than sufficient for the nourishing of the seed or kernel. The event shows, 
that this redundancy, if it be one, ministers to the support and gratifica¬ 
tion of animal natures; and when we observe a provision to be more 
than sufficient for one purpose, yet wanted for another purpose, it is not 
unfair to conclude, that both purposes were contemplated together. It 
favors this view of the subject to remark, that fruits are not (which 
they might have been) ready altogether, but that they ripen in succes¬ 
sion throughout a great part of the year; some in summer; some in au¬ 
tumn: that some require the slow maturation of the winter, and supply 
the spring; also that the coldest fruits grow in the hottest places. Cu¬ 
cumbers, pine-apples, melons, are the natural produce of warm climates, 
and contribute greatly, by their coolness, to the refreshment of the inha¬ 
bitants of those countries. 
“ The eatable part of the cherry or peach first serves the purposes of 
perfecting the seed or kernel, by means of vessels passing through the 
stone, and which are very visible in a peach-stone. After the kernel is 
perfected, the stone becomes hard, and the vessels cease their functions. 
But the substance surrounding the stone is not then thrown away as use¬ 
less. That which was before only an instrument for perfecting the ker¬ 
nel now receives and retains to itself the whole of the sun’s influence, 
and thereby becomes a grateful food to man. Also, what an evident 
mark of design is the stone protecting the kernel ! The intervention of 
the stone prevents the second use from interfering with the first.” 
Paxton. 
