ELEMEN T S OF HORTICULTURE, J. E. TESCHEMACHER. 7— 2 - r j gifcravg of %m%xtn UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. CONCISE APPLICATION OF TUF. ' PRINCIPLES OF STRUCTURAL BOTANY HORTICULTURE, CHIEFLY EXTRACTED FROM THE WORKS OF LINDLEV, KNIGHT, HERBERT, AND OTHERS, WITH ADDI- TIONS AND ADAPTATIONS TO THIS CLIMATE. 1 By J; E. TESCHEMACHER. BOSTON: CHARLES C. LITTLE AND JAMES BROWN. MDCCCXL. • Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by Charles C. Little and James Brown, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. M T-' h ; *%* BOSTON: FREEMAN AND BOLLES, PRINTERS, WASHINGTON STREET. > N& ^ PREFACE. The combination of practical skill and experi- ence with scientific investigation and knowledge, the former giving results, the latter affording rea- sons for these results, and sketching the outlines of farther experiments, has always appeared the surest ground of obtaining information of the greatest value on all subjects of natural science. A concise and simple explanation of some of the prominent facts and laws of vegetable physiology so that they might become known to, and guide those agriculturists and horticulturists, whose time is too much occupied to permit them to go into the detail of the reasoning involved in the numerous experi- ments scattered through many volumes and pe- riodicals, must be of advantage. The valuable experiments of Knight, the works of Lindley, Decandolle, Herbert and others, the Compilations of Loudon, and some of the results of the extraordinary attention paid within the last IV PREFACE. fifteen years throughout Europe to the laws and operations of vegetable life, added to my own ex- perience and study of this subject, compose the basis on which this little publication is founded. The subject of Manure, and the properties of soils, do not strictly belong to structural botany, but the few details inserted regarding them cannot be thought misplaced. The diseases of Plants must be left to the Ento- mologist as far as the insects which infest them are concerned, and to the Cryptogamist as respects the injuries inflicted by fungi lichens and mosses. Nor are there any channels into which the labor's of those who are devoted to such branches, can be diverted with more interest to themselves or value to mankind. It cannot be denied that many of the advanta- geous practices in Horticulture and Agriculture have been discovered by the mere practical man, without any deductions from science, or the laws of vegetation. Yet it is probable that had the knowledge of these laws been earlier and more widely disseminated, these advantages would have been sooner known and more generally diffused than they are at present. Many are disinclined to PREFACE. V adopt a new course, and reject the old one to which they have been long attached, without some very- palpable and sufficient reasons for the change. But one improvement introduced and properly accounted for, paves the way for others, and the mind is prepared to inquire. In this country, particularly, such a frame of mind is prevalent, and has produced very important results in agri- culture ; it will do the same in horticulture, now comparatively in its infancy. It seemed, therefore, that the separation of a few of the principal facts concerning the structure and parts of vegetables from the other masses of botanical knowledge with which they are usually published, and their application to the practice of horticulture could not fail to be favorably received in this community. A complete treatise on these subjects cannot be expected in a work of this nature, but if the facts and reasoning give rise to new experiments, and produce results favorable to the progress of Horti- culture or Agriculture, the object of the publication will be completely answered. 1* APPLICATION STRUCTURAL BOTANY HORTICULTURE. General Nature of Plants. Horticulture is the application of the arts of cultivation, to the improvement for the use or delight of man, as well as to the domestica- tion, of the vegetable kingdom. Agriculture and Arboriculture are included in this definition. Plants are organized bodies, composed of a substance called Tissue, which is so delicate and thin as to permit fluids and gases to pass through. This Tissue exists either in the form of mi- 8 GENERAL NATURE OF PLANTS. nute bladders called cells, which are filled with juices and lie close to each other, leaving how- ever intermediate passages where they do not touch — this is Cellular tissue; or in slender tubes called woody fibre which are closed at each end, conical, and placed side by side. Or in a fibre either rolled up spirally like a wire spring, or forming long cylindrical vessels placed end to end, which finally become con- tinuous and lie close to each other ; this is called vascular tissue — from vas a vessel. Cellular tissue when just formed is very lax or coheres loosely and possesses great powers of absorption. Late microscopic discoveries have enabled botanists to distinguish several varieties of Cel- lular tissue. Even their names, however, would be misplaced here. It constitutes the soft and brittle parts of plants, as pith, pulp, the soft part between the veins of leaves, the tender parts of the flower, fruit, &c. Succulent plants, as the Cactus, have an ex- cessive development of this tissue. It may be considered the most essential kind of tissue, because, while no plants exist without it, many are composed of nothing else. GENERAL NATURE OF PLANTS. 9 Woody Fibre is what causes stiffness and tenacity in certain parts of plants ; hence it is found in the veins of leaves, and in bark, and it constitutes the principal part of the wood. The most remarkable form of vascular tissue is the Spiral vessel, which has the power of unrolling with elasticity when stretched. Other kinds of vascular tissue are incapable of unrolling, but break when stretched. Spiral vessels are not found in the wood or bark, and rarely in the roots of plants. Vascular tissue of other kinds is confined to the root, stem, veins of leaves, petals, and other parts composed of leaves. It is not found in bark. The common office of the tissue is to convey fluid or air, and to act as the receptacle of secretions. The cells of Cellular tissue convey fluids in all directions through their sides, and absorb with great rapidity; when placed in contact with cells of the same species they join together and adhere — as is exemplified in budding and grafting — the cells adhere, then form Woody fibre — but cells of different or widely related species will not form a junction. This is the operation of grafting or budding, 10 GENERAL NATURE OF PLANTS. in which, however, the similar parts of the stock and scion must be brought into close con- tact, and kept so for some time, and this must be done during the growing season. Woody fibre conveys fluid in the direction of its length, gives stiffness and flexibility to the general system, and acts as a protection to spiral and other delicate vessels. Spiral vessels convey oxygenated air. Other vessels probably conduct fluid when young, and air when old. As the bodies of which all tissue is composed are perfectly simple, unbranched, and regular in figure, having, when elongated, their two extremities exactly alike, they are more or less capable of conveying gaseous matter or fluids in any direction ; and, consequently, a current may be reversed in them without inconven- ience : hence, inverted cuttings or stems will grow. All parts of plants are composed of tissue, whether they be soft, as pulp ; or hard, as the bony stone of a Peach. With regard to Horticultural operations, the parts of plants should be considered under the heads of Root, Stem, Leaf-buds, Leaves, Flow- ers, Stamens and Pistils, Fruit, and Seed. ROOT. 11 Root. The Root is the part that strikes into the earth when a seed begins to grow, and which afterwards continues to lengthen beneath the soil. But some roots do not require the soil, and draw their nutriment from the atmosphere, as the Ivy, Air-Plants, &c, others live on the juices of trees, as the Misletoe, &c, they are called parasitical. It is distinguished from the stem by the absence of leaves in any state, of regular leaf- buds ; of evaporating pores, or stomata ; and of pith in Exogenous plants. Therefore, such underground bodies as those called Tuber of the Potato ; Bulb of the Onion ; and solid Bulb or Cormus of the Crocus, are not roots. 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. The latter office is essential to the certain and regular performance of the former. It is not by their surface only that roots ab- sorb food; it is chiefly by their young and newly formed extremities, called Spongioles. 12 ROOT. Hence the preservation of the spongioles in an uninjured state is essential to the removal of a plant from one place to another, and care should be taken to preserve even the smallest fibres of the roots uninjured. A Spongiole consists of veiy young vascular tissue, surrounded by very young cellular sub- stance. It is therefore one of the most delicate parts of plants, and the most easily injured. Hence whatever is known to produce any injurious action upon leaves or stems, such as certain gases and mineral or vegetable poisons, will produce a much more fatal effect upon the spongioles. These spongioles have no power of selecting their food, but will absorb whatever the earth or air may contain, which is sufficiently fluid to pass through the sides of their tissue. So that if the spongioles are developed in a soil which is of an unsuitable nature, as they will still continue to absorb, they cannot fail to introduce matter which will prove either in- jurious or fatal to life, according to its intensity. This may often explain why trees suddenly become unhealthy, without any external appa- rent cause ROOT. 13 Plants have the power of replacing spongioles by the formation of new ones ; so that an in- dividual is not destroyed by their loss. But this power depends upon the coopera- tion of the atmosphere, and upon the special vital powers of the species. If the atmosphere is so humid as to hinder evaporation from the leaves, spongioles will have time to form anew ; but if the atmosphere is dry, the loss by evaporation will be so much greater than can be supplied by the injured roots, that the whole plant will be emptied of fluid before the new spongioles can form, and death will ensue. This is the key to the operations of trans- plantation and propagation by cuttings scions and buds. As roots arc destitue of leaf-buds, and as leaf-buds are essential to the multiplication of an individual, it should follow that roots can never be employed for the purpose of multipli- cation. Nevertheless, roots have, occasionally, the power of generating leaf-buds, which being latent, and not according to the usual operations of nature, are called adventitious; and when this is the case, they may be employed for the 2 14 ROOT. purpose of multiplication ; as those of Cydonia Japonica, &c. The cause of this power existing in some species, and not in others, is unknown. It is therefore a power that can never be calculated upon ; and whose existence is only to be discovered by accident. The immediate cause of the formation of roots is at present involved in obscurity, but the fact is well known that some plants when pro- pagating by cuttings produce roots with much more facility and in a shorter time than others. Darkness, moisture, and perfect rest, seem necessary for this purpose — as well as a down- ward circulation of the sap, which is effected by the action of the leaves on the upper part of the stem — nor can the roots exist by them- selves without the leaves to create the action of drawing up the juices they absorb — therefore a cutting without leaves will soon perish. Although roots are generated under gound, and sometimes at considerable depths, yet ac- cess to a certain quantity of atmospheric air appears indispensable to the healthy execution of their functions. This is constantly exem- plified in plants growing in the earth at the back of an ill-ventilated forcing house, where the ROOT. 15 roots have no means of finding their way into the earth on the outside of the house. The spongioles and newly formed parts of the root contain considerable nitrogen, a sup- ply of this gas therefore seems necessary to their health. Manure which contains nitrogen in abundance must therefore be of consequence to them. It has lately been asserted that those seeds which contain most nitrogen vegetate the earliest. It is supposed by some that the introduction of oxygen into their system is as indispensable to them as to animals. It seems more probable that the oxygen of the atmosphere, combining with a certain quan- tity of carbon, forms carbonic acid, which they absorb and feed upon. It is at least certain that the exclusion of air from the roots will always induce an unhealthy condition, or even death itself. This may be one of the reasons why stiff, clayey, tenacious soils are so seldom suited to the purposes of the cultivator, until their adhesiveness has been destroyed by the addition, of other matter, such as sand or manure. After the juices have circulated through a plant and performed their destined offices, what 16 ROOT. remains unfit for its further nourishment re- turns to the spongioles, is by them thrown off — this substance so thrown off is unsuitable and even poisonous to this species of plant, but is not so to other species ; it may even be suitable to them. Hence soil may be rendered impure, (or, as we inaccurately say, worn out) for one species, which will not be impure for others. This is the true key of the theory of rotation of crops. This also may serve to explain in part why light soil is indispensable 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 de- posited ; while, in the latter case, the reverse will occur. It will also be one of the reasons why an orchard planted too thickly of the same trees cannot thrive, the trees by their roots soon absorb all the nutriment from the earth, and only those on the borders can send out their roots to a distance for fresh juices, those in the centre have little else to feed on but the sub- ROOT. 17 stance thus cast off by themselves and by the others around. And why young apple trees planted on the site of an old apple orchard cannot thrive, the earth is full of the poisonous matter thrown off by the roots of the old trees ; but probably young cherry or peach trees would succeed. Likewise it accounts for the natural rotation of trees which has been dis- covered to exist in the ancient forests of this part of the globe ; for the necessity of repot- ting plants grown in green-houses every one or two years, and for many other circumstances in horticulture for which hitherto sufficient reasons had not been given. Much of the healthy action of the root de- pends on the warmth and moisture of the soiL A late German writer, Mr. Writgen, has made it appear probable that much more depends on this than on the geological nature or chemical state of the soil, and when it is considered that the salts usually found in the earth are more readily soluble in a warm moisture than in a cold one, and also that heat is favorable to decomposition and the production of gases — it seems likely there is truth in this position. During the summer in the temperate parts of Europe, the earth at one and two feet depth is 2* 18 STEM. one to one and a half degrees higher in tem- perature than the atmosphere, but in tropical climates the earth is many degrees hotter. The system of applying bottom heat to accele- rate the junction of the parts of plants that have been grafted, budded, or inarched, is successful from its exciting the healthy and rapid action of the roots in absorbing juices and supplying them in abundance to the stock. The root is never entirely dormant except when frozen ; during the winter it is slowly col- lecting juices for the supply of the spring ; where the period of rest or winter is long, the store of juices is large, and vegetation in the spring is rapid and luxuriant. This accounts for the quick growth in northern climates where plants commence vegetation and mature their fruit in the short space of three months. Stem. The stem is that part of a plant which is developed above-ground, and which took an upward direction at the period of germination of the seed. It consists of a woody axis, covered by bark having pores on its surface, bearing leaves with STEM. 19 leaf-buds in their axils, and producing flowers and fruit. The points where leaves are borne are called Nodi, knots ; the spaces between the leaves are Internodia, Internodes. The more erect a stem grows, the more vigorous it is; and the more it deviates from this direction to a horizontal or pendulous posi- tion, the less is it vigorous. Some stems are developed under ground, such as the Tubers of the Potato and the Cor- mus of the Crocus, but they are known from roots by the presence of leaves, and regular leaf-buds upon their surface, as the shoots from the eye of the potato. Stems increase in diameter in two ways. Either by the addition of new matter to the outside of the wood and the inside of the bark ; when they are Exogenous ; ex. Oak. Or by the addition of new matter to their in- side ; when they are Endogenous ; ex. Cane. Palm. In Exogenous stems, the central portion, which is harder and darker than that at the cir- cumference, is called Heart-wood; while the exterior, which is softer and lighter, is called Alburnum or Sap-wood. 20 STEM. The inside of the bark of such stems has also the technical name of Liber. The Heart-wood was, when young, Albur- num, and afterwards changed its nature, by becoming the receptacle of certain secretions peculiar to the species. Hence the greater durability of Heart-wood than of Sap-wood. While the latter is newly formed empty tissue, almost as perishable as bark itself, the former is protected against de- struction by the introduction of secretions that become solid matter, which is often insoluble in water, and never permeable to air. The secretions by which Heart-wood is soli- dified are prepared in the leaves, whence they are sent downwards through the bark, and from the bark communicated to the central part of the stem. The channels through which this communi- cation takes place are called Medullary Rays, or Silver Grain. Medullary rays are plates of cellular tissue, in a very compressed state, passing from the pith into the bark. They are what form the cross grain of most of our ornamental woods. The wood itself is composed of tubes con- sisting of woody fibre and vascular tissue, im- bedded longitudinally in cellular substance. STEM. 21 This cellular substance only developes hori- zontally ; and it is to it that the peculiar char- acter of different kinds of wood is chiefly due. For this reason the wood of the stock of a grafted plant will never become like that of its scion, although, as will be hereafter seen, the woody matter of the stock must all originate in the scion. The stem of an Exogenous plant may there- fore be compared to a piece of linen, of which the weft is composed of cellular tissue, and the warp of fibrous and vascular tissue. In the spring and autumn a viscid juice is secreted between the wood and the liber, called the Cambium. This Cambium appears to be the matter out of which the cellular horizontal substance of the stem is organised. In Endogenous stems, such as the Palm, the portion at the circumference is harder than that in the centre ; and there is no separable bark. Their stems consist of bundles of woody matter, imbedded in cellular tissue, and com- posed of vascular tissue surrounded by woody fibre. The stem is not only the depository of the peculiar secretions of species, but is also the 22 LEAF-BITDS. medium through which the sap flows in its pas- sage from the roots into the leaves. In Exogenous stems it certainly rises through the alburnum, and descends through the bark. In Endogenous stems it probably rises through the bundles of wood, and descends through the cellular substance ; but this is un- certain. Stems have the power of propagating an individual only by means of their Leaf-buds. If destitute of Leaf-buds, they have no power of multiplication, except fortuitously. Leaf-buds. Leaf-buds are rudiments of branches, en- closed within scales, which are imperfectly formed leaves. All the leaf-buds upon the same branch are constitutionally and anatomically the same. They are of two kinds ; viz. regular or nor- 7iial, and adventitious or latent. Regular leaf-buds are formed in the angle of the leaf and the stem, called the axil, at the origin of the leaf — all bodies growing in that angle, are called axillary. LEAF-BUDS. 23 They are capable of propagating the indi- vidual from which they originate. They are at first nourished by the fluid lying in the pith, from which it is probable they take their rise, as may be seen in a cross slice of the pine made at a knot, or just at the axil, but they finally establish for themselves a commu- nication with the soil by the woody matter which they send downwards. Their force of development will be in pro- portion to their nourishment ; and, consequently, when it is wished to procure a young shoot of unusual vigor, all other shoots in the vicinity are prevented growing, so as to accumulate for one shoot only all the food that would other- wise have been consumed by several. Cutting back to a few eyes is an operation in pruning to produce the same effect, by directing the sap, as it ascends, into two or three buds only, instead of allowing it to ex- pend itself upon all the others which are cut away. It is better in many cases of flowering plants and fruits to rub off all buds but those wished to be left, before they become branches. When leaf-buds grow, they develope in three directions; the one horizontal, the other up- ward, and the third downward. 24 LEAF-BUDS. The horizontal development is confined to the cellular system of the bark, pith, and me- dullary rays. The upward and downward developments are confined to the woody fibre and vascular tissue. In this respect they resemble seeds; from which they differ physiologically in propagating the individual, while seeds can only propagate the species. When they disjoin from the stem that bears them, they are called bulbs. In some plants, a bud, when separated from its stem, will grow and form a new plant, if placed in circumstances favorable to the pre- servation of its vital powers. But this property seems confined to plants having a firm, woody, perennial stem. Such buds, when detached from their parent stem, send roots downwards and a stem up- wards. But if the buds are not separated from the plant to which they belong, the matter they send downwards becomes wood and liber, and the stems they send upwards become branches. Hence it is said that wood and liber are formed by the roots of leaf-buds. LEAF-BUDS. 25 If no leaf-buds are called into action, there will be no addition of wood : and, consequently, the destruction or absence of leaf-buds is ac- companied by the absence of wood; as is proved by a shoot, the upper buds of which are destroyed and the lower allowed to devel- ope. The lower part of the shoot will increase in diameter ; the upper will remain of its origi- nal dimensions. The quantity of wood, therefore, depends upon the quantity of leaf-buds that develope. It is of the greatest importance to bear this in mind in pruning timber trees ; for excessive pruning must necessarily be injurious to the quantity of produce. If a cutting with a leaf-bud on it be placed in circumstances fitted to the development of the latter, it will grow and become a new plant. If this happens when the cutting is inserted in the earth, the new plant is said by gardeners to be upon its own bottom. But if it happens when the cutting is applied to the dissevered end of another individual, called a stock, the roots are insinuated into the tissue of the stock, and a plant is said to be grafted ; the cutting being called a scion. 3 26 LEAF-BUDS. There is, therefore, little difference between cuttings and scions, except that the former root into the earth, the latter into another plant. But if a cutting of the same plant without a leaf-bud upon it be placed in the same circum- stances, it will not grow, but will die. Unless its vital powers are sufficient to enable it to develope an adventitious leaf-bud. A leaf-bud separated from the stem will also become a new individual, if its vital energy is sufficiently powerful. And this, whether it is planted in earth, into which it roots, like a cutting, or in a new in- dividual to which it adheres and grows like a scion. In the former case it is called an eye, in the latter a bud. Every leaf-bud has, therefore, its own dis- tinct system of life, and of growth. And as all the leaf-buds of an individual are exactly alike, it follows that a plant is a collec- tion of a great number of distinct identical systems of life, and consequently a compound individual. Regular leaf-buds being generated in the axils of the leaves, it is there that they are always to be sought. And if they cannot be discovered by ocular LEAF-BUDS. 27 inspection, it may nevertheless be always in- ferred with confidence that they exist in such situations, and may possibly be called from their dormant state into life. Hence, wherever the scar of a leaf, or the remains of a leaf, can be discovered, there it is to be understood that the rudiments exist of a system of life which may be, by favorable cir- cumstances, called into action. Hence, all parts upon which leaves have ever grown may be made use of for purposes of pro- pagation. From these considerations it appears that the most direct analogy between the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms is with the Polypes of the former. Adventitious leaf-buds are in all respects like regular leaf-buds, except that they are not formed at the axils of leaves, but develope occasionally from all and any parts of a plant. They are occasionally produced by roots, by solid wood, or even by leaves and flowers. Hence, roots solid wood, or even leaves and flowers may in particular cases be used as means of propagation. But as the development of adventitious buds is extremely uncertain, such means of propaga- 28 LEAF-BUDS. tion can never be calculated on ; and form no part of the science of cultivation. The cause of the formation of adventitious leaf-buds is unknown. From certain experiments it appears that they may be generated by sap in a state of great accumulation and activity. Consequently, whatever tends to the accu- mulation of sap in an active state may be expected to be conducive to the formation of adventitious leaf-buds. When a hard woody plant is cut down after transplantation, adventitious leaf-buds will start from all parts of the stem. They originate and arc pushed out from the centre, and are caused by the accumulated sap. The leaf-bud and the flower-bud are the same in the earliest stage of their organization, but soon after, the change takes place which is visible in most fruit trees as soon as the sap begins to flow. The determination of these buds to leaf or blossom-buds, no doubt depends on the quantity and quality of the sap stored up during the winter. When excessive vigor is produced in trees, it is favorable to the production of leaf- buds, and consequently of wood. On the con- LEAVES. 29 trary, when rapid and vigorous vegetation is checked, blossom-buds, and consequently, fruit will be in abundance — thus, fruit is seldom borne on the thick vigorous shoots of the peach, &c, but generally on the slender ones. If an unproductive tree is transplanted, it often becomes productive from the check given. In India and China, trees are brought to bear fruit by cutting the roots or exposing them to dryness. Leaves. Leaves are expansions of bark, traversed by veins. The veins consist of spiral vessels enclosed in woody fibre ; they originate in the medullary sheath and liber; and they are connected by loose cellular tissue which is full of cavities containing air. This cellular tissue consists of two layers, of which the upper is composed of small cells perpendicular to the outer skin, and the lower of small cells parallel with the outer skin. These small cells are arranged so as to leave numerous open passages among them for the circulation of air in the inside of a 3* 30 LEAVES. leaf. Cellular tissue of this nature is called cavernous. The skin covering the leaf called cuticle, is formed of one or more layers of depressed cellular tissue, which is generally hardened, and always diy and filled with air. Between many of the cells of the cuticle are placed apertures or pores called stomata, which have the power of opening and closing as cir- cumstances may require. It is by means of this apparatus that leaves prepare the sap which they absorb from the alburnum, or new wood, converting it into the secretions peculiar to the species. Their cavernous structure enables them to expose the greatest possible surface of their cellular tissue to the action of the atmosphere. Their cuticle is a non-conducting skin, which protects them from great variations in tempera- ture, and through which gaseous matter will pass readily. Their stomata are pores that are chiefly in- tended to facilitate evaporation ; for which they are well adapted by the power they possess of opening or closing as circumstances may re- quire. They are also intended for facilitating the LEAVES. 31 rapid emission of air, when it is necessary that such a function should be performed. The action and functions of stomata being of such vital importance, it is absolutely neces- sary to the health of a plant that they be not choked up with dust or dirt or injured by in- sects, the cleaner therefore the leaves of a plant are kept the more it will flourish. Leaves growing in air are covered with a cuticle. Leaves growing under water have no cuticle. All the secretions of plants being formed in the leaves, or at least the greater part, it fol- lows that secretions cannot take place if leaves are destroyed. And as this secreting property depends upon specific vital powers connected with the decom- position of carbonic acid, and called into action only when the leaves are freely exposed to light and air, it also follows that the quantity of secretion will be in direct proportion to the quantity of leaves, and to their free exposure to light and air. The leaf therefore is a beautiful contrivance for exposing a large surface of crude sap to the influence of the external air and solar light, by the operation of which it is rendered capable 32 LEAVES. of being converted into the different substances required for the growth of the plant and the production of its fruit and seed. The light of the sun striking on a leaf causes 1. Decomposition of carbonic acid, by which carbon in different vegetable forms enters into the composition chiefly of the solid parts of the plant — this is in proportion to the intensity of the light to which it is exposed ; hence, plants grown in the shade are weak, and vice versa. 2. Extrication of nitrogen. 3. Insensible perspiration or evaporation; hence this does not take place during the night The health of plants depends much on the proper adjustment between the quantity of juices taken up by the roots, and the perspira- tion of the leaves. If they are exposed to too much solar light, the perspiration is greater than the roots can supply, and the leaves flag : when transplanted, if watered in the evening, the roots become supplied with moisture and juices, the perspiration ceasing daring the night, this action recovers its equilibrium, and the leaves are seen erect in the morning. The quantity of light or shade which can be borne by a plant, depends on the number, form LEAVES. 33 and action of the stomata, and as these vary considerably in different plants, it is evident that some are created to prefer shade, others to prefer light. In this climate where the atmosphere is so pure and free from mist and vapor, where solar light is so intense during the summer, attention to these principles is peculiarly requisite. On this subject, more will be found under the con- siderations of light, air, perspiration, and trans- plantation. The usual position of leaves is spiral, at regularly increasing or diminishing distances ; they are then said to be alternate. But if the space of the stem called the axis, that separates two leaves, is reduced to nothing at alternate intervals, they become opposite. And if the spaces that separate several leaves be reduced to nothing, they become vcrticillate or whorled. Opposite and vcrticillate leaves, therefore, differ from alternate leaves only in the spaces that separate them being reduced to nothing. 34 FLOWERS. Flowers. Flowers consist of two principal parts, the interior or those destined to form and perfect the seed, called Stamens and Pistils, and the exterior or those destined to envelope, protect and ornament the former, called Floral En- velopes. Of these, the latter constitute what is popular- ly considered the flower ; although the former are the only parts that are absolutely essential to it. Some flowers have only one envelope, some none, as the willow. However different they may be in appear- ance from leaves, they are all formed of those organs in a more or less modified state, and altered in a greater or less degree by mutual adhesion. The Floral Envelopes consist of two or more series called whorls of transformed leaves ; of which part is calyx, its leaves being called sepals, and part corolla, its leaves being called petals. The stamens and pistils arc also transformed leaves. FLOWERS. 35 The calyx is always the outermost, the corolla is always the innermost whorl ; and if there is but one floral envelope, that one is called calyx. Usually the calyx is green, and the corolla colored and more highly developed ; but the reverse is frequently the case, as in Fuchsia, Ribes sanguineum, &c. A Flower being, then, an axis, or stem sur- rounded by leaves, it is in reality a stunted branch ; that is, one the growth of which is checked, and its power of elongation destroyed. That flowers are stunted branches is proved, firstly, by all their parts, especially the most external, occasionally reverting to the state of ordinary leaves ; secondly, by their parts being often transformed into each other ; and, thirdly, by the whorls of flower-buds being dislocated and actually converted into branches when- ever any thing occurs to stimulate them exces- sively. Their most essential distinctive character consists in the buds at the axils of their leaves being usually dormant, while those in the axils of ordinary leaves are usually active. But an extraordinary case is recorded by Mr. Knight of potatoes growing in the angles (axils) of the sepals and of the petals of the flower. 36 FLOWERS. For this reason while leaf-buds can be used for the purpose of propagation, flower-buds cannot usually be so employed. ■ Being stunted branches, their position on the stem is the same as that of developed branches. And as there is in all plants a very great difference in the development of leaf-buds, some growing readily into branches, others only unfolding their leaves without elongating, and many remaining altogether dormant, it follows that flower-buds may form upon plants of whatever age and in whatever state. But to produce a general formation of flow- er-buds it is necessary that there should be some general predisposing constitutional cause independent of accidental circumstances. This predisposing cause is the accumulation of sap and of secreted matter, as has been be- fore explained. Therefore whatever tends to retard the free flow of sap, and causes it to accumulate, will cause the production of flower-buds, or fertility. And on the other hand, whatever tends to produce excessive vigor causes the rapid mo- tion and dispersion of sap, or prevents its elab- oration and causes sterility or want of flower- buds. FLOWERS. 37 Transplantation with a partial destruction of roots, age, or high temperature accompanied by a dry atmosphere, training obliquely or in an inverted direction, a constant destruction of the extremities of young growing branches, will all cause an accumulation of sap, and secre- tions ; and consequently all such circumstances are favorable to the production of flower-buds. But a richly manured soil, high temperature, with great atmospheric humidity , or an uninter- rupted flow of sap, are all causes of excessive vigor, and are consequently unfavorable to the production of flowcr-buf earth previous to application, otherwise its heat will completely destroy \ tation. One injurious effect it produced how- ever was to i scite th<- vines so excessively that when ii was impossible to obtain this stimulus none other could be found to supply its place, and the vines fell into a state of weakness. It has lately been subjected to fermentation lor the purpose of manufacturing vinegar from it previous to its application to the soil. This of course by abstracting the saccharine juice, leaving a portion of acetic acid in the mass, and perhaps by destroying in some measure the phosphate of lime, much impairs its quality as a manure. On the much discussed question of the com- parative value of manure applied fresh from the stable, or applied after it has lain in a heap for MANURES. 87 some months and fermented, it appears that exposure to rain dissolves the salts it contains, which are lost hy washing away, and the heat of fermentation dissipates the gases in the atmosphere. Both these are of value to the roots of plants. On the other hand, on the theory of Geine, the fermentation of manure, kept in a heap, de- composes the vegetable substance and converts it into geine, which is thus in a fit state for imme- diate application to the roots, while manure, if spread over the earth in a fresh state, does not heal at all and decomposes very slowly, a great proportion of the gases being also lost. The application of liquid manure to plants, par- ticularly those grown in potfl or tuba, is consider- ably practised, and certainly with great advan- tage. This liquid manure is usually prepared by steeping manure in water and drawing it off when clear, and of the color of beer or porter. The above argument applies also to this method. The substances found in plants by analysis are by no means true tests that those substances are required as manure to make them flourish ; thus there may be very little lime found in a vegetable, on analysis, and yet lime as phos- phate, (bone manure) carbonate, (common 8* 88 MANURES. lime) or even sulphate (gypsum) may be a useful manure for that vegetable — for lime neutralizes acids which may be found in the soil, many of which are injurious ; it decom- poses and prepares various other substances, as mucilage or gum which readily dissolves and alters phosphate of lime, thus the hurtful exuda- tions of roots partly possessing this mucilaginous nature may perhaps thereby be rendered inno- cuous or useful, &c. There is indeed perhaps as much or more yet to be discovered on this subject than what we actually know. Man sows and cultivates many acres of the same plant together, hence arises the necessity of manure and rotation. Nature mixes all her plants in varied and beautiful profusion — hence, no manure or rotation is necessary, the exudations of the roots of one plant become food for another, and the same plants remain growing on the same spots for years, nay ages. Yet when nature does, as in the case of forests, produce the same tree to a large extent — the American forests teach us that there rotation also becomes necessary. It would be a curious experiment to endeavor to ascertain whether the exudations of parasitical plants were benefi- cial or otherwise to the trees on which they are said to feed. INDEX. The members n far to the pages. Acidity, 48. Fertility, 30. Adhesion, 9. Flavor, 48. Alburnum, 19. Floral envelopes, 34. Anther, 41. Flowers, stunted branches, Axil, 22. 35. Flowers, 34. Bell glasses, 09. double, 39. Euds7 26, proliferous, 39. Bulbs, 24. « discoid compound, 39. Calyx, 34. Fruit, 45. Cambium, 21. Flues, 04. Carbonic acid, 32. Cells, 8. Germination, 55. Cellular tissue, 2. Glass-houses, 03. Color, 01. Grafting, 73. Corolla, 34. Cuticle, 30. Heart- wood, 19. Cuttings, G8. Hybridising, 50. Darkness, 39. Inarching, 75. Insipidity, 49. Embryo, 51. lnternodia, 19. Endogenous, 19. Evaporation, 04. Layers, 09. Evergreens, 80. Leaf-buds, regular, 22. Excrementitious matter, , adventitious, 22, 10. 27. Exogenous, 19. Leaves, 29. Eyes, 20. Light and air, 60. 90 INDEX. Liber, 20. Manures, 81. Medullary rays, 20. Nodi, 19. Nitrogen, 15. Ovula, 51. Petals, 4. Pistill, 41. Poisonous gases, 64. Pollen, 41. Potted plants, 78. Perspiration, 64. Root, 11. Rotation of crops, 16. Sap, its motion, 57. , accumulation of, 59. Sap-wood, 11). Scion, 25. Seed, 51. Sepals, 34. Seed-saving, 52, 5b. Silver grain, 20. Spiral vessels, 9. Sport, 38. Spongioles, 11. Stamens, 41. Stem, 18. Sterility, 36, 59. Stigma, 42. Stock, 25. Stomata, 11. Stoning, 46. Sweetness, 48. Tissue, 1. Training, 62. Transplantation, 77. Tubers, 11. Varieties, 38. Vascular tissue, 8. Wood, how formed, 8, Woody fibre, 8. Worn out soil, 16. ubbaWJ* CONGRESS 0Q001361350