ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. 
m 
6. Of what parts is the stem formed ? 
7. What are the leaves ? 
8. Whf*t is the footstalk ? 
9. By what means do plants supply themselves with nourishment? 
10. Why does carbonic acid play a great part in the act of nutrition $ 
11. Wliere is it decomposed ? 
12. That this decomposition shall take place, what is necessary ? 
13. Why should we avoid sleeping in an apartment filled with plant! $ 
LESSON VI. 
THE ORGANS OF REPRODUCTION. 
37. Those are called organs of reproduction, by which 
a plant reproduces others of its kind. The most essential 
are the stamens , or male organs; and the pistils , or female 
organs. 
38. The pistil, which is usually found in the centre of 
the flower, is fecundated by a species of dust, called pol¬ 
len, which escapes from the stamens at the moment of 
blooming. These essential organs of reproduction are 
detected in almost any flower; the pistils are in the mid¬ 
dle, surrounded by the stamens. When these last alone 
exist in a plant, it never produces seeds; and so the result 
would be, were we to suppress the upper part of the pis- 
til, which is destined to receive the fecundating powder. 
39. The lower part of the pistil is called ovule , or germ . 
It is the germ which, in consequence of fecundation, yields 
the fruit. This last is nothing more in botany than a fe¬ 
cundated germ, or ovule, arrived at maturity. 
40. There are some plants whose flowers contain both 
the pistil and the stamens ; these are called hermaphro¬ 
dites . In other plants the pistil is found on one flower, 
and the stamens on another, but upon different stems. 
This occurs sometimes, however, upon the same stem. 
Thus with the oak: flowers with the pistil grow upon one 
