1864] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
117 
Thumb is one of the earliest dwarfs; it grows 
only 8 inches high, and its pods all come to ma¬ 
turity about the same time, which is an advan¬ 
tage in a market pea, but not a good quality 
for one grown for family use. By sowing at 
intervals of a few days, this difficulty can be 
met, Bishop’s Dwarf Prolific and Bishop’s 
Long Pod are both good sorts, growing 1 and 
H feet, and affording several pickings. Queen 
of Dwarfs is said to be fine; we tried it in a 
very dry season, and hacl a bad crop. The 
Strawberry Prolific is another good dwarf kind. 
McLean’s Princess Royal is a recently intro¬ 
duced sort, highly commended in the catalogues. 
As it is not well to give them fresh manure, 
sow in soil already in good condition, as early as 
the ground can be worked. The drills may be 
15 inches or 2 feet apart, according to the height. 
What is Inside of a Plant. 
If the reader has given attention to the arti¬ 
cles with the above heading, in the previous two 
numbers of the Agriculturist , he has a general 
idea of the internal structure of plants, as shown 
by the microscope. There remain, however, 
one or two points to add to the account already 
given. The leaf is that part of the plant in 
which the great work is done of converting the 
crude sap, taken from the soil, into material fit 
Fig. 10— SECTION OF BALSAM LEAF. 
to add to the growth of the plant. It was 
hinted last month that the leaf contained cellu¬ 
lar tissue which forms the soft part or pulp, 
and woody tissue and ducts of which the veins 
or frame work are composed. It will be of in¬ 
terest to examine now the internal structure of 
the leaf, or at least the arrangement of its cel¬ 
lular tissue. In order to this, an exceedingly thin 
slice is taken crosswise of the leaf, by means of 
a razor or very sharp knife ; this being placed 
under the microscope will appear like fig. 10,. 
which shows a magnified edge of the leaf of the 
common Balsam cut across. Here we have the 
simple cells described on page 49 (February), but 
Fig. 11— EPIDERMIS OF LEAF. 
lying so loosely together that they do not pre¬ 
sent the many-sided form seen in m :st other 
parts of the plant. In the upper part of the 
figure, which is the part towards the upper sur¬ 
face of the leaf, the cells, A, are elongated 
and packed quite closely together, while to¬ 
ward the lower surface they are of, irregular 
shape, B, and lie quite loosely, so that, there are 
large spaces or air passages between them. The 
leaf is covered, as are all portions of the plant, 
when it is young at least, by a thin, transparent 
skin or epidermis, which adheres more or less 
closely. The epidermis (outer skin) can be readi¬ 
ly detached from the onion leaf; it appears like 
a thin film. This consists of a single layer of 
flattened cells placed side by side, and of vari¬ 
ous shapes in different plants. Fig. 11. shows 
the epidermis of the Balsam leaf as it appears 
when magnified; the cross section of its cells is 
shown in fig. 10. at G, C. The epidermis is im¬ 
pervious to air and water, and as this covers 
the leaf completely, the question may be asked, 
how then does evaporation, which we all know 
does.take place from the leaf, go on? This 
delicate skin of the leaf, the existence of which 
is known to very few persons, is one of the 
most beautiful contrivances imaginable, and is 
only one of many wonderful things which lie all 
around us unnoticed. The leaf is a part of the 
plant which requires free communication with 
the air, in order that evaporation may go on, 
and that other changes, which require similar 
conditions, may take place within it. At the 
same time, such are the varying conditions of 
the atmosphere that evaporation should not pro¬ 
ceed too freely, as liquids would be thrown off 
faster than they could be taken up by the roots, 
and the plant would wilt, as happens even now 
in a time when both the soil and air are very 
dry. To answer all the needs of the leaf, it is 
covered with this skin or epidermis which is gen¬ 
erally impervious to air and vapor, and then at 
certain points it is provided with, orifices which 
open and close as the condition of the plant de¬ 
mands. In fig. 11. are five double cells looking 
unlike the others there represented; these are 
the guards or doors to the openings of the epi¬ 
dermis, which communicate between the inte¬ 
rior of the leaf and the atmosphere. These 
openings are called Stomates (from the Greek 
word for mouth), or breathing pores. Each of them 
is guarded by two cells; 
while the greater part of 
the epidermis is colorless 
these particular cells are 
green like those with¬ 
in the leaf, as indicated in 
the figure by the dots on 
them. These cells are very sensitive to the 
effect of moisture; when moist they swell and 
spread apart and afford a free communication be¬ 
tween the air and the interior of the leaf; when 
dry they gradually contract and close the open¬ 
ing. In fig. 12 the left hand figure shows one 
of the stomates open, and the right hand shows 
one closed. It will readily be seen how this 
simple and beautiful apparatus works. When 
the air is moist, the breathing pores open and 
allow the passage of vapor and air; but when it 
becomes too dry for the good of the plant, they 
close and the functions of the leaf are in good 
measure suspended until a suitable condition of 
the atmosphere returns. These stomates are 
found much more abundantly upon the under 
surface of the leaf than they are upon the up¬ 
per, as there they are shielded from the direct 
action of the sun. This will show the reason 
why the pulp or cellular tissue of the leaf is so 
much more loose and open on the under side, as 
is shown in fig. 10; the numerous open spaces 
or air passages in the tissue connect with these 
stomates, so that whatever the plant requires 
should pass in or out between the air and leaf) 
passes mainly through the under surface. The 
number of stqmates varies in different plants. 
The under side of the apple leaf is said to have 
24,000 to the square inch, while some others 
of different species have many more. 
TOE EOTltlSElMm 
Cigar-box Ornaments, Brackets, etc. 
A leisure hour and a jack-knife are often well 
employed in executing some tasteful device, which 
may serve to ornament a room, or be valued as a 
gift by some friend. There are so many little gems 
of photographs now-a-days, 60 many pretty statu¬ 
ettes, and various orna¬ 
mental objects, which are 
very well exhibited upon 
brackets, or in similar po¬ 
sitions, that we give the 
accompanying engraving 
of a bracket made of the 
wood of a cigar box. Its 
construction is evident 
from the picture, and so 
simple that it needs no 
description. Similar 
brackets are made with 
but one support, placed 
under the center of the 
shelf; but as the writer 
happened to have the 
little owl’s head (which is a natural one) the 
design was made with a view to its accommo¬ 
dation. It has given some of our friends pleas¬ 
ure, and some of the young readers of the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist may take a hint which will give 
agreeable employment to their pocket cutlery. 
One’s friends value such little things much on ac¬ 
count of the neatness of execution, but more on 
account of the beauty and originality of design, 
and there is really no limit to the variety of styles 
and forms which may be made of this common and 
very cheap material. 
Cheap File For Newspapers. 
The “Jacobs” File for holding papers, offered in 
our premium list, is the neatest arrangement for 
the purpose we have seen; but many who do not 
care to go to the expense of such a one, will like 
an arrangement described by a subscriber to the 
American Agriculturist, S. B. Elliott, Tioga Co., Pa. 
It is not new, but is none the less useful for that: 
Take two pieces of stiff pasteboard, each the size 
of the paper when properly folded. These are for 
the covers. Make of hard wood, two strips, A, A, 
fig. 1, about % of an inch wide, and 3-16tlis of an 
inch thick, and as long as the covers. Through 
NEWSPAPER FILE. 
these bore two holes with a small gimlet, each hole 
about 3 inches from the end. Take a piece of nar¬ 
row tape or good stout small cord, about two and- 
one-half feet long, and put it through the holes in 
one of the sticks. Make holes in the pasteboard 
covers to correspond with the sticks, and put the 
string through one of the covers, and you are ready 
to put in papers. F, represents the sticks and 
strings without either covers or papers. At 21, is 
seen one stick and cover, and the manner of putting 
in a paper. To do this properly, lay one of the 
Fig. 12 —STOMATES. 
