ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF VEGETABLE ORGANISATION. 271 
horizontal position, instead of a vertical one, which is the usual 
arrangement of the cellular texture. 
We have only room for one more extract from this excellent lecture, 
relative to the visible existence of the fructification in the interior of the 
plant long before its development. 
“ A bulb consists of an internal firm pulpy substance, surrounded by 
a filmy envelope or cuticle, and coated with several layers of a loose 
fibrous expansion. In the centre of the coats will be found the future 
plant, which may be frequently observed fully developed in all its parts 
before there is any appearance of external vegetation. ‘ If the bulb of 
the tulip be taken up in the beginning of the month of January, and 
carefully bisected in a line passing through its longitudinal axis, the 
petals, the stamens, the pistil, and the incipient stem may be already 
all distinctly perceived, small and delicate in their appearance, but 
complete in all their parts.’ ” 
Buds contain the rudiments of leaves and flowers. They consist 
of a scaly envelope, enclosing the proper bud, which is a pulpy sub¬ 
stance, with numerous interlaced fibres, and surrounded by a thin 
cuticle. “In the^month of March, 1810, I opened a bud of the horse 
chestnut that had not yet burst its scales. The scales, which were 
about fifteen or sixteen in number, being removed, were found to 
contain one pair of opposite leaves, now laid bare, the divisions of 
which were closely matted together with a fine down. The leaves 
upon being opened were found to enclose a flower-spike, consisting 
of not less than a hundred florets compactly crowded together, and each 
enveloped in its own downy calyx, which when opened discovered the 
corolla, stamens, and pistil distinct, the rudiments of the future fruit 
being also discernible in the ovary.”— Keith, in Brewster's Journal. 
We earnestly recommend the import of the above extracts to the 
attention of our readers, more especially those who are not content with 
the mere knowledge of how to name and cultivate a plant, but have a 
wish to look into the structure, and satisfy themselves of the manner of 
the growth of vegetables. For although this be not necessary to the 
successful practice of gardening, it is a source of great mental satisfac¬ 
tion to the man who can account for, as well as direct the movements of 
his plants. 
Another thing, the ideas of the accrescent powers of vegetables 
contained in the above extracts, are far more rational than the old 
doctrine about the “ organisable” property of the sap, about which so 
much has been said and written by former writers. 
