THE CULTIVATOR. 
75 
is kept for some time in contact; but as none but tissues of nearly the same 
nature will adhere, grafting and budding, which are caused by the adhe¬ 
sion of contiguous parts, can only take place either between different vari¬ 
eties of the same species, or between nearly related species; and even 
then only when the correspondent parts of the scion or bud, and the stock, 
are placed in contact. 
20. Woody fibre conveys fluid in the direction of its length, gives stiff¬ 
ness and flexibility to the general system, and acts as a protection to spiral 
and other delicate vessels. 
21. Spiral vessels convey oxygenated air. 
22. Other vessels probably conduct fluid when young, and air when 
old. 
23. As the bodies of which all tissue is composed are perfectly simple, 
unbranched, and regular in figure, having, when elongated, their two ex¬ 
tremities exactly alike, they are more or less capable of conveying gaseous 
matter or fluids in any direction; and, consequently, a current may be re¬ 
versed in them without inconvenience: hence, inverted cuttings or stems 
will grow. | 
24. All parts of plants are composed of tissue, whether they be soft, as 
pulp; or hard, as the bony lining of a peach. 
25. With regard to horticultural operations, the parts of plants should be 
considered under the heads of Root (II.); Stem (III.); Leaf-buds (IV.); 
Leaves (V.); Flowers (VI.); Sexes (VII.); Fruit (VIII.); and Seed 
(LX.). 
II. ROOT. 
26. The root i 3 the part that strikes into the earth when a seed begins 
to germinate and which afterwards continues to lengthen beneath the soil. 
27. It is also the part which is sometimes emitted by the stem, for the 
purpose of absorbing nutriment from the atmosphere; as the ivy, air-plants, 
vines, &c. 
28. It is distinguished from the stem by the absence of leaves in any 
state, of regular leaf-buds (IV.); of evaporating pore3 or stomata (131.); 
and of pith in exogenous plants, 
29. Therefore, such underground bodies as those called tuber (61 ) in 
the potato; bulb (96.) in the onion; and solid bulb or cormus (61.) in the 
crocus, are not roots. 
30. The office of the root is to absorb food in a fluid or gaseous state; 
and also to fix the plant in the soil, or to some firm support 
31. The latter office is essential to the certain and regular performance 
of the former. 
32. It is not by the whole of their surface that roots absorb food; but 
only by their young and newly formed extremities, called spongioles. 
33. Hence the preservation of the spongiole in an uninjured state is es¬ 
sential to the removal of a plant from one place to another. 
34. A spongiole consists of very young vascular tissue (12.), surround¬ 
ed by very young cellular substance. (5 ) 
35. It is therefore one of the most delicate parts of plants, and the most 
easily injured. 
36. Hence whatever is known to produce any specific deleterious ac¬ 
tion upon leaves or stems, such as certain gases (298.) and mineral or ve¬ 
getable poisons, will produce a much more fatal effect upon the spongioles. 
37. These organs have no power of selecting their food, but will absorb 
whatever the eaith or air may contain, which is sufficiently fluid to pass 
through the sides of their tissue. 
38. So that if the spongioles are developed in a medium which is of an 
unsuitable nature, a< they will still continue to absorb, they cannot fail to 
introduce matter which will prove either injurious or fatal to life, accord¬ 
ing to its intensity. 
39. This may often explain why trees suddenly become unhealthy, with¬ 
out any external apparent cause. 
40. Plants have the power of replacing spongioles by the formation of 
new ones; so that an individual is not destroyed by their loss. 
41. But this powee.depends upon the co-operation of the atmosphere, 
and upon the soecia! vital powers of the species. 
42. If the atmosphere is so humid as to hinder evaporation, spongioles 
will have time to form anew, but if the atmosphere is dry, the loss by eva¬ 
poration will be so much greater than can be supplied by the injured roots, 
that the whole system will be emptied of fluid before the new spongioles 
can form. 
43. This is the key to transplantation. (XV.) 
44. As roots are destitute of leaf-buds i IV.), and as leaf-buds are essen¬ 
tial to the multiplication of an individual (108.), it should follow that roots 
can never be employed for the purpose of multiplication. 
45. Nevertheless, roots when woody have, occasionally, the power of 
gem-ratine adventitious leaf-buds (IV.); and when this is the case, they 
may be employed for the purpose of multiplication; as those of cydonia ja- 
ponica &c. 
46. The cause of this power existing in some species, and not in others, 
is unknown. 
47. It is therefore a power that can never be calculated upon; and whose 
existence is only to be discovered by accident. 
48. Although roots are generated under-ground, and sometimes at con¬ 
siderable depths, yet access to a certain quantity of atmospheric air appears 
[indispensable to the healthy execution of their functions. This is con- 
jstantly exemplified in plants growing in the earth at the back of an ill-ven¬ 
tilated forcing house, where the roots have no means of finding their way 
[into the earth on the outside c f the house. 
49. It is supposed by some that the introduction of oxygen in their sys¬ 
tem is as indispensable to them as to animals 
50. It 3eems more probable that the oxygen of the atmosphere, seizing 
[upon a certain quantity of carbon, forms carbonic acid, which they absorb, 
[and feed upon. 
51. It is at least certain that the exclusion of air from the roots will al¬ 
ways induce an unhealthy condition, or even death itself. This may be 
one of the reasons why stiff tenacious soils are so seldom suited to the pur¬ 
poses of the cultivatior, until their adhesiveness has been destroyed by the 
'addition of other matter. 
52. Spongioles secrete excrementitious matter, which is unsuitable to 
the same species afterwards as lood; for poisonous substances are as fatal 
to the species that secrete them as to any other species. 
53. But to other species the excrementitious matter is either not un¬ 
suitable, or not deleterious. 
64. Hence, soil may be rendered impure (or, as we inaccurately say, 
worn out,) ior one species, which will not be impure for others. 
55. This is the true key of the theory of rotation of crops. 
56. This also may serve to explain in part why light soil is indispensa¬ 
ble to so many plants, and heavy or tenacious soil suitable to so few: for in 
the former case the spongioles will meet with little resistance to their 
elongation, and will consequently be continually quitting the place where 
their excrementitious matter is deposited; while in the lattercase, the re¬ 
verse will occur. 
V- III. STEM. 
67. The stem is that part of a plant which is developed above-ground, 
and which took an upward direction at the period of germination. 
58. It consists of a woody axis, covered by bark having stomata (131.) 
on its sur.ace, bearing leaves with leaf-buds, in their axii.ae, and produc¬ 
ing flowers and fruit. 
59. The points where leaves are borne are called nodi; the spaces be¬ 
tween the leaves are intemodia. 
60. The more erect a stem grows, the more vigorous it is; and the more 
it deviates from this direction to a horizontal or pendulous position, the 
less is it vigorous .—(To to continued.J 
(jCJ-The agriculturists in the western part of this state are making 
laudable exertions to stock their farms with an improved breed of cattle. 
This they are enabled to do now, without sending to England, some ot the 
enterprising farmers in this vicinity having, some years ago, imported ex¬ 
tensively from the best herds in Europe. 
Within a few days, some of these fine cattle, purchased by G. V. S ack- 
ett. Esq. of Seneca-Falls,and the Hon. Samuel Clark, Esq. of Wa¬ 
terloo, were sent west by the canal. Their beauty, in passing through 
the streets, excited general admiration. 
The stock consisted of a full blood “ improved Durham short-horned’* 
bull, purchased of Matthew Bullock, Esq of Bethlehem. He was 
of a light roan, five years old, of beautiful form and symmetry, combining 
all the good qualities calculated -to perpetuate the breed of this nobb- vari¬ 
ety of cattle. He was short in the leg—deep and bruad in the chest- 
straight in the back—hips low—broad on the loin—his head and neck 
were the finest we ever saw on a Dull—was perfectly quiet and docile—in 
fine condition—and weighed on the scale 2000 lbs. 
The remainder consisted of a heifer, not quite three years old, with a 
beautiful calf by her side, and a yearling heifer, and a pair of Bakewell 
sheep, purchased of C. N. Bement. The heifer, tho -gh low in flesh, 
showed a good frame, and all the good points for a deep milker, which 
was evident from the appearance of the splendid calf running by her side. 
The yearling was in better condition, and commanded the admiration of all 
who saw her. Two were of a light roan, the other dark red and white.— 
Evening Journal. 
Yoimgr Men’s Department. 
HINTS TO THE YOUNG OF BOTH SEXES. 
CONDITIONS REQUIRED FOR EFFICIENT RESPIRATION. 
No fact in medicine is better established than that which proves the 
hereditary transmission from parents to children of a constitutional liabili- 
ty to pulmonary disease, and especially to consumption; yet no condition 
is less attended to in forming matrimonial engagements. The children of 
scrofulous and consumptive parents are generally precocious, and their 
minds being early matured, they engage early in the business of life, and 
often enter upon the married state before their bodily frame has had time 
to consolidate. For a few years every thing seems to go on prosperously, 
and a numerous family gathers around them. All at once, however, while 
still very young, their physical powers begin to give away, and they drop 
prematurely into the grave, exhausted by consumption, aud leaving child- 
