PHENOMENA OF VEGETATION. 
3 
increase in the other; nor can any injury be suffered by either 
without its effects being felt by the opposite and dependent parts 
of the plant. Hence the necessity of preserving with the utmost 
care the roots of all tender plants in a state of health, that a 
similar character may be apparent in the part exposed to view. 
As all the organs of a plant originally spring from one point, 
so all their functions appear to be referrible to one vital principle, 
let this agent be known by whatever term it may—whether it be 
alimentary fluid, or sap, or any other name —to it, and it alone, 
may be traced the first formation and continuance of every por¬ 
tion of the plant. Without entering farther into the nature of its 
substance than our previous brief allusion, we may state, it is 
derived from the air and earth by the roots, conveyed by ducts 
to the leaves, there assimilated and returned for the present and 
future uses of the plant, its development being regulated by ex¬ 
ternal affecting circumstances. When taken back to below the 
surface of the earth, it is usually emitted in the form of new 
roots, though even there, probably in consequence of undue 
atmospheric influences, it will sometimes be seen as foliated shoots 
or suckers ; if retained in the stem or trunk, its presence is per¬ 
ceivable in the increase of wood, and that portion which descends 
no farther than the branches remain there to furnish other 
branches, leaves, and flowers, through the next season. It will 
not alter this view of its action, however different the character 
of the plant; for, let it be the lofty tree of the forest, or the 
humblest herb, the first secretions may be reasonably assigned to 
the formation of new roots, the next to the extension of the 
principal or intermediate parts, and the last to the production of 
leaves and flowers, and the consequent increase of the species, 
the true end and object of all created matter. Applied in a cul¬ 
tural sense, the necessity of attention to the ripening of late 
growths upon all kinds of flowering plants, becomes apparent; 
for, without due maturity being given to the latter secretions, it 
is vain, as experience will prove, to hope for blossoms. 
Editor. 
