The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-02-06
Vitality of the Sexes.

|. would hardly be correct to call the
reproductive principle in Nature the te-
male principle and yet when Nature has
advanced so far in tho plant or the ami
NAL as to call for division into sexes, it
will hardly be denied that the female is
in more intimate communion with this
leading object than male The female
must necessarily be the most favored of
Nature. At the commencement of the
division the female will be first provided
for and in the great struggle for life, all
other things being equal, the chances will
be largely in her favor. In plants the
division into sexes is not made apparent
until the towering period arrives. Some
are hcrmaphrodites that is, they have
stamens and pistils in the same flowers.
Others are diecious, or have the male
flowers wholly on one plant, and the te-
males on another. But it is seldom
known, prior to Towering, which is the
male plant or which is the female Still
the peculiar sexual principle in some
cases, no doubt, pervades the whole plant,
and exists long anterior to Towering for
q male or female plant once known will
generally always remain so. Cuttings
taken from either will be pretty sure to
reproduce the same sexual flowers again,
though not always; for the female silver
maple will not untrequcntly put forth
branches with male flowers. Still, as a
general thing, sex is not determined in
plants until near the towering time ; and
is, as has been said, never known until
the flowers have actually opened. In
those plants which bear male and female
flowers separate on the same plant, it is
then seen that the male flowers only ap-
pear on the weakest branches or branch
lets. This is best illustrated by a pine
or spruce tree. Tho female flower is
that which ultimately becomes the pine
cone The male flowers gather in small
clusters, and are those which produce the
dust (pollen) in early spring. The te-
male flowers or cones only appear at the
ends of the hcalthiest branches. AS the
tree grows of course the branches now
a. the ends in time become the interior,
aud are then shaded by those which 60
beyond them. Shade always tends to
lessen the vitality of a growing branch /;
and here we see that branches once streng
aud bearing female flowers, as soon as
thus partially weakened by shade bear
only male ones. An inspection of any
pine-tree in spring will show, that though
male flowers are sometimes borne at the
base of the shoots bearing female flowers,
weak shoots never bear any thing but
male ones. This will be found the case
in all plants of monecious character.
In the common ambrosia, or ragweed
the male flowers are on sort of weaken
ed, halfdead-looking, raceme ; while the
females are situated in the best position
for receiving the highest amount ofnutri-
tion the plant can bestow. Those who
have examined this matter in plants, see
the truth of the position in the vegetable
world, that natures highest efforts in the
formation of the sexes are invariably in
the female line.
The same facts appear to us in the
animal world. In the very first struggle
with life the males get the worst of it.
The vast majority of all the children who
die under Eve years of age are males.
As the sexes approach maturity, the
terrible strain on the female system begins
and the numbers of males and females
again nearly equalize. The amount of
nutrition over and above that required to
sustain life passes in the male to brain
and muscle, to mere physical strength