Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1856-07-07
From the National Ia.eHieenes=.
PHYSIOLOGY.
RIA BOARDING. SCHOOL,
ga month. 500, lS56.

9Th month, SOth, 1856.
was very much interested in your remarks
relative to the sugar crop of Louisiana ~ your
paper of the 2sth instant, reviviug as they did
some notions in regard to certain practical points
in Vegetable Physiology which seem deserving
of more careful investigation than they h'tnerto
have, so far as my knowledge extends, received
Docs plant, such as the sugar cane, the grape
the Lonl6ardy poplar, &c. admit of propagation
for ar iadefaitc time by cuttings or slips: Or
is not rather, that p2teer in SEED which causes
the vegetable development in accordance with
particular tyne so as to produce certain Kind
of tree or variety of fruit limited in duration to
period beyond which it cannot be extended
And are not approaches to these limits Indicated
By deterioration of the plant and by diunrn-
iShed mower to resist unfavoTable influences, so
that, while young plants III congcnlai situations
have seemed vigorous, there wonid be almost a
failure in older plants and where the situations
were less congenial?
When, about fiftees years ago, by invitation
of Secretary Poiasett, l delivered lecture on
Vegetable Physiology before the National lustl-
tutc in Washington, | drew the attention OF
that scientific association to the pToPlety OF M
vestigating this subject one of great practical
Importance.
Every perfect seed, whatever be its kind, con
tains or arises from cell, single cell, which Is
the germ from which the plant proceeds. With
out stopping to give the process by which the
plant is developed from this germ, 1t may be as
serted that the vital power by which the devei-
Opmcnt is controlled resides in this cell or germ
1t is the vital power thence arising-and most
interesting, important, and mysterious power II
lis-which assimilates and arTanges the clements
so as to cause its tleyclopmcBtin accordance with
the law governing that particular type or class
of vegetables.
A cell similar to that referred to in the seed
exists in each bud; and hence, by inserting bud
in proper stock as in grating and buding fruit
or by placing cutting containing bud in the
ground, as in propagating sugar cane, grapes,
the Lombardy poplar, &C., the same kind offFuit
vine, plant, or tree is produced by the develop
mcnt of this bud as that of the one from which
it was taken because the vital power Of the cell
or germ contained in it continues to arrange the
elements and develop the plant in conformity to
the law its original life. Now, thcimportant
inquiry is, does the cell germ in the bud pos
sess vital power as siong as that in the origin
nj szs or does not rather this vital energy, that
controls the Development Of the plant, become
| weaker and weaker by repeated proPagatlons, SO
that ultimately there must BE- a deterioration and
final exhaustion of all plants propagated success
Sively By cuttings, slips, budding, and grating,
and hence the deterioration of the sugar cane
the grape vines in the island of Madeira, the
! Loubardy poplar, and many kinds of grated
| fruit? Roget, in his interesting work OH animal
and vegetable physiology, constituting part Of
the "Bridgewatcr TreatiscS," says by c0ntln-
ued graftings, after long period, the vitality
Of the particular variety. is gradually exhaust
ed, and the Crafts no longer hear fruit. This
has already happened with regard to the two va
rieties, the golden piPpiuand the nonnariei;" and
he refers to valuable papers on the subject by
| Andrew knight in the Philosophical Transactions.
But more facts arc needed upon this interesting
question, and the principal object of my present
communication is to invite attention to the sub
Iject in order that these facts may be collected.
Reliable answers to inteTrogatories such as the
following would greatly aid in the dicision of the
question:
i. Is it certainly known that there were fer
merly certain valuable varieties Of fruits proPo-
gated by grating or budding that have now en-
tirely disappeared!
?. If so, before they finally disappeared, did
they not gradually ripen earlier in the season,
decay sooner and ultimately rot on the trees,
the vital principle being sufficiently strong to
produce the .f0rm Of the particular fruit, but
not to mature it2
8. Are there any existing varieties of fruit
which now ripcn much earlier than formerly
and fail to keep as long in the winter?
4. In the cane and grape culture, where propo-
gated by cuttings, have the plants been as ca
pablo of resisting untayorable influences OF lat
ter years rs they formerly were?
II would be desirable, too, to know, in order
to influence future action, how long since the
stock of cain now cultivated was produced from
the seed.
If the vital power is most vigorous in the o.
riginal germ or seed, and gradually becomes
weaker and weaker by successive Propogations,
the first indications of deterioration would be
less ability to endure hardships, so that unfa'
vorablc Influences which, though previously ex.
listing, thevitaI energy had resisted, would cause
partial or an entire failure now it has become
weakened Thus the blight observed latterly
in the vintage in the MADEIRA may be from causes
which have long existed, bnt which the superior
vital power of the plants has hitherto enabled
them to resist and the same may be the case
in regard to the sugar cane.
An easy practical remedy Immediately sug
gcsts itself, if this view is correct; which is 6
more frequent procuring of plants Immediately
from healthy seed; as possessing greater vita
power, and hence more capable of resisting al
kinds of malign influences.
Your sincere friend,
BENIN IALLOWELL.