| Show from srem prom chambers edinburgh journal Jo ammi aroi reproduction of plants the main object of a plant damn growth seems to be the reproduction of its its kind whether vh ethe the term of its existence be limited by bv a day by a year or by centuries its sole effia effort as it proceeds from leaf to stern from stern to branch and from branch to flower and fruit fluit is the multiplication of itself this is effected variously by seeds by spores or germs gerins by tubers by runners which put forth shoots as they elongate by branches which send down roots by slips or detached branches or even by single leaves we shall notice the more remarkable of these modes as exhibiting at once the perfection of design and the inexhaustible haus maus tible tibie contrivances which nature has ei e er at her adoption for the accomplishment of the end in view increase by seed is the most familiar mode of reproduction being common to all flowering plants seeds are merely leaves leases lea iea es preserved served in peculiar cerements cere ments mentis till the cretu return rn oge OTe of the season of growth and here it ma may be remarked that wherever we have a healthy growing leaf or number of leaves there is no difficulty in rearing an independent plant since acco according t in to the doctrines of morphology the leaf i is t the e primary organ from which all dil other parts take ake their form and development A numerous class ens of i vegetables Coeta biess bleff have their seeds composed of two lea iea leaveslay lobes as may be seen spen in the bean and apple in adoth another er class as the oat and cocoa nut they consist of a I 1 single lobe but whether they have oe 01 e or two lobes in all of them the function ot of diction dichon is of take hc most besci description option to prod proa ce a fertile sf af a f d the pollen poten or lis d isy y granules which tip the stigmas must be convy conveyed ed to the pistil and through the pistil to the embryo in the ovary for this purpose a thousand beautiful adaptations bak hak have hale e been called I 1 into existence thise precious preel preci oes ors granie granle 11 icile aie die to he be swept away by eve every brei bre ze and sli gli shower ower are protected p by the sheltering ering calyx and corolla which turn their backs to the wind or droop like a pent house to ward off the rain and even should the pollen be scattered by accident the pistil is covered wih wilh a oine fine mucilage N bacil intercepts and ret s etui aple of every antagonist force forces seme some plants havethe stamens and pistils in one and the same flower in others the stam stamens hiis hils bris are in one flower and ard the pistil in another while in not a few the male and female flowers flowen are prod produced iced on separate stems ye f in all the meads means of fertilization are oni rendered nub nugatory matory if the male and female flow ers erb are near they are placed so as to be brought in contact by the slightest waving of a branch or it if distant the passing breeze and the limbs ai of the wandering bee bae are made the elt dit e dus 11 s 1 y th ehe the e plo ilo exl exi ia s carried to the destined I 1 rc rn appl ppl e IV bei hei properly prop pro pirly matred mat red a seed must be provided aided vided iii til gust fust sly with wilu the means of dispersion and preservation breser atton and anti so secondly condly with a sufficiency of internal nourishment for the embryo plant planty till its roots have struck into the soils soil soll and its leav irav 9 h b re expanded in the atmosphere aci coi cor m iv v some gome seeds beedis are farinaceous others i alb aib alami lilli lilii i ia and many oleaginous all ali allot of those pr prud prod its s eing heing converted alaez daring germination into th those ose elements which enter eater into the structure ot of a growing plant for the conversion of these products a certain amount of heat beat and arid moisture is necessary but too much heat would parch them thea and too much cold or moisture would destroy their vi vi bality to provide against such contingencies natured hab has ha conferred on the seeds or of plants the most ingenious and perfect cov coi covering ering lle the ile cocoa has a tough fibrous coir ana and ana woody nut impervious impei impel alike to drouth and rain the chestnut has a compact leathery envelope the plum a hard stony drupe the apple a fleshy pome enc enclosing I 1 0 ll 11 i leathery cells the rose a cled fleshy hip packed p a with down the pea and bean a pod of parchment and seeds apparently naked iia hai e either a membrane membrane or have the exterior tissue so conden canden condensed sed that they look aa as if it they had bad come from the hand of the thus the protection against cold drouth moisture and other destructive agencies is ia so complete that seeds which have been buried i for centuries have on being brought to the suri face sprung up into healthy plant plants even a j crop of wheat has been reared from grain found in the cage of an egyptian mummy more than three thousand ears vears old equally perfect with this projection is the means for their dispersion di s over the surface of the globe what could be better adapted for floating from island to island than the cocoa nut with wim its light waterproof fibrous coir and woody shelly obell what more easily caught I 1 up by the slightest brea breath of air than the seeds 0 of up the thistle or dandelion with their little i parachutes of down or what more aptly I 1 fitted for attachment to the coats of wandering animals than the hooked heads of the teasel and burdock i nor does contrivance end here many when i ripe are ejected from the vessels which coni tain them with considerable force by means of elastic valves and springs the carda mine impatiens throws its ripe seed to considerable 1 distance on being touched so does the squirting cucumber encumber the geranium the common broom i and others as if they were endowed with vitality and had a care for their embryo progeny some do not even part with their seeds till these b have ave struck root as independent plants thus the mangrove which flourishes amid the mud 0 tropical deltas and creeks retains its berries till they have sent down long threadlike radi cles into the silt below as if it felt that the water and slime by which it was surrounded were elements too unstable to ba be 1 in trusted with its offspring plants that reproduce themselves by spores or germs belong to the cry t a ic or flowerless tc class of vegetation as the ferns ins seaweeds sea weeds mosses and ad mushrooms in many of these the reproductive spores are so minute that they float in the air and not a dried mushroom or puffball padd puff ball bail that i is struck by the wandering foot but bat disperse disperses thousands of its kind around it tile the little brown specks on the leaf of the fern the snuff like ilke powder ponder of the puffball po puff ball bal ll 11 or the dust arising from the mould of or a decayed cheese are all alike the germs of future plants and when we consider how minute each individual is how liable to be borne about by winds by water and by the coverings of ani mala to which they may ad adhere liere we shall cease to wonder at the fact that there is not t a portion of surface organic or inorganic that may not be covered with their growth the spores of the fuci or sea weeds which are always alwa s surrounded by water are covered with a mucilage that enables them to adhere to whatever er solid lid body they touch and what is peculiar in this adhesive substance it ia is in insoluble in water let chemistry says macculloch in his illustrations of the tile attribute attributes Attrib utes of a god gor name another mucilage another substance which water cannot dissolve though apparently already in in solution with water and then ask if this extraordinary secretion was not designed for the special end attained and alid whether also it does not afford an example of that power which has only to will that it may produce what it desires even by means tho most improbable many plants as the potato reproduce themselves both by seeds and tubers both moles however how ever do not take place with equal exuberance at one and the same time in its native re relon region ion lon of south america where the climate is better adapted for blossom and maturation of seed the potato flowers luxuriantly but yields an ins los ant crop of small acrid tubers in 0 it r u climate on the other hand the underground progeny is the more abundant and prolific acting upon the knowledge of this principle the farmer in europe cuts off the flower buds of th tb potato plant pi int to increase hia his crop of I 1 ti fibers bers ast as the tulip or hyacinth fancier prevents his plants from flowering in order to increase the stock of his bulbs which throw out a number of offsets from their bases there is it would seem a certain amount of j vital force in every plant and if that force ba be i expended on lowering flowering I 1 tubers will not be pro j dacej and f on tae p production r of arr an under ground progeny the seed will not be matured b I 1 aa as is the c case as ew with ith the horse radish and jeru I 1 af balem salem artichoke anti antl choke an here however it must be remarked that th 1 tubers are not roots in the botanical sense of ut the word they are true underground stems which instead of terminating in fruit and seed ro terminate in nodes full of eyes or leaf buds 1111 and supplied with a quantity of farinaceous I 1 I 1 matter for the support of the young buds till ili iii they have struck stryck their roots in the soil sufficient itt to elaborate their own sustenance iet lei let any one unearth a potato plant with care af and he will at once perceive the dit Terence difference between 84 1 the true roots spreading out into minute fabres fibres and the underground stems terminating 11 CI in tubers the former are tough and fibrous diverging into minute radi cles each tipped ra with its little sucking point or iole the latter are soft and succulent undivided and ja ending end ingin in a mass of farinaceous matter studded aj with young buds each of these buds if detached with a portion of the tuber and placed in proper soil will spring up into a perfect plant the farinaceous fragment supplying it with food until roots and leaves are formed termed the manner in which plants reproduce themselves differs according to the constitutional character of t the he individual some as the elm and poplar have hive their roots furnished with buds which sooner or later sprout forth into offsets and suckers as tia tig they a are r e ca called led and these annually increase in bul bui buik bulk an and 1 height hight ultimately becoming under proper condi condl conditions tins perfect trees others as the greater numo number er of bulbs and tubers multiply themselves by sending 0 oat out runners each of which produce several young plants and herbaceous perennials extend themselves in the same way either cither by runners under ground as the couch grass or above ground as the strawberry most alost people must have observed the continual efforts of the latter plant to extend itself in this way and so it is with many others the propensity being most powerful where there is i the least opportunity of 0 bringing forth seed it is often highly 1 Interest interesting inc to watch the progress of these runners where the soil is bottand boft soft and favorable throughout the young shoots are developed at about t equal distances but where the soil is hard or covered with stones the runner pushes its way over these obstructions refusing to pu forth a sin single sinie le bud until the proper conditions for its maintenance be reached we have often seen a gravel walk thus crossed by a strawberry runner the runner being as as a piece of copper wire wire until it ahad had arrived at the soil on the other side where it immediately put forth its young progeny in abundance instances of this kind are often ascribed to vegetable instinct and were it not for the essential ti differences which evidently exist between t vegetables and animals one would be almost tempted to assign to it a higher designation some plants produce living seeds in the vessels where the ordinary seed is matured as maybe may be seen in certain species of the onion family known as tree and apple anione and others like some of the lilies yield little per fe fc ct briles in the axils aeils of the stem leaves another manner in which trees treas multiply themselves is by their branches bending downwards till they touch the ground with the grow ing points which then take root and spring tip up into into t independent I 1 Je pendent stems tells tais frequently happens pe among a monc mong trailing shrubs as the bramble and honey suckle buckle and may also be witnessed among our garden roses and gooseberries goose berries A somewhat similar mode of extension is presented by the banyan which becomes enlarged without the assistance of either cither seeds or su suckers roots are produced by the under side of 1 the lower branches these hang dangling in t the he air for months before they reach the ground this at last they pener penetrate and become stems steins to a head of branches an old tree of this kind presents a most magnificent object forming concentric corridors over a great extent of sur face acting upon the principles here pointed ont out by nature gardeners propagate many of their favorites by layers that is by bending a branch or shoot till a portion of it be buried I 1 in n the soil where it throws ont roots roos and establishes tab lishes itself as an independent plant this being done it is removed from the parent stock stuck i and placed in another adother situation trees are also propagated by sl sup p that I 1 iq by detached shoots being thrust into intosh th soil where they usi i itly lly throw olt oat roots and grow up tip into healthy individuals AH XI plants I 1 of course cannot iannot br b slipped with the th same fa cikity calit b A t generally gene gena rally raily ay speaking where there i are well developed eaf leaf buds in the axils aeils of the perfect leaves and where abere there is a true wood formed the slip will be found to take root and grow i badding is another artificial mode of propagation i it is in fact merely slipping at an earlier stage sl age of growth groeth grov groe th in the one case there are arp many leaf buds on a common stem in ih the other there is 13 only a single bud the opera i tion is performed by taking the leaf bud bad from one tree and neatly inserting it under the cuticle ticie of another where fel fed by the necessary juices it extends into la new bough or arm perhaps the most curious mode of natural reproduction is that by the leaf it is well known that many leaves as those of the echeveria gloxinia 10 cinta orange and others when fallen to t the e ground in a young and growing state put forth roots and become perfect plants this fact is at present exciting much atten i tion and since all parts of a plant want are but special developments of this single organ it is argued that there is nothing to prevent the propagation pa of any species of vegetation by this simple simpie means considering tre the truth and universality versa lity of the doctrines of morphology we cannot see gee why there should and feel justified in the hope that once gardeners have arrived at a knowledge of 0 the proper times and modes they shall be enabled to rear any form of vee ve vegetation 0 e from this uni universal verbal verRal organ what a curious view of vegetable life do the principles of reproduction unfold namely that i ii li all ail 11 parts of a plant whether root tuber bulb stem branch leaf or seed will under certain conditions grow grov up into a perfect indi to the tha parent arent from which it has sprung all modes Z do not take place at one and the same |
