Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-01-22

tree. Is Tree al luUIflOudI, VI Ill dSSO-
citation of individuals? Certainly, if
compound coral is an association of an
assemblage of animals whose association
is matter of physiological accident, a
tree ought to be considered the samel In
both instances individuals are bound to-
pether by a community of position, food
and parentage. Both botanists and horti-
culturists are now well aware that the diff
ference between leafbuds and flower buds
is exceedingly small, owing to the ease
with which the foliar parts can be meta
morphOsed into floral.
By cramping the roots of plant, a
gardener well knows he can transform
what would otherwise be leaves into flow
ering parts, and therefore into fruits.
This is the reason why we lop off the
early shoots of our fruit-trees, in order to
direct the nutriment into the Towering
and fructifying parts, instead of allowing
it to be spent in the growth Of Ito us) use
less new tissue. The creeping roots of our
strawberries are religiously cut off for
similar reasons-for in this case, as of
some of the lower animals, propagation
takes a two-fold shape, by Towering las
animals by eggs, and by means of a sto-
loniferous root las such animals as COM
pound corals and hydras by that process
termed "budding"0
Every flower, therefore, is as distinct an
an individual as a coral animal, and is
even better able to propagate new indi-
viduals One does so by specializing Ger
tain parts Of the tissue to form oVa or
eggs, the other TO form seeds.
The analogy may be carried further
still All animals are provided with a
certain store of nutriment, to assist in
their growth, until they can obtain sus-
tenance for themselves. In the eggs of all
living creatures, the bulk contains three
fourths of such stored up material, which
is unconsciously and imperceptibly alb
sorbed into the structure of the newly de-
veloped animal. Similarly, as is seen in
our beans, peas, acOrns, etc, there is sup
ply of albumen and starch for the nour-
ishment of the young seed-germ, until it
can strike root into the ground on its own
account, assimilate the soluble mineral
matter it finds there, and deoxidize the
atmosphere of its necessary aliment
1t is this surrounding of the embryo
plant, or "seed," as we term it. with GER
tain organic substances, which gives rise
to what we call fruits. But the botanical
meaning of fruit and the popular inter-
probation of it are widely at variance
The former limits it solely to that which
contains the germ of the future plant
the latter means by the term anything
that is edible. Thus, we call both straw
berries and figs fruit, yet the botanist
knows this is a gross error. The little
seed-like objects scattered in such album
dance over the pyramidal surface of the
strawberry are the genuine fruits or seeds
the deliciously sweet pulp we dignity
by the name being nothing but the tO1'u8,
or 'bed,' in which the seeds are fixed.
In fact, it is only saccharine covered
part of the plant similar to that in which
the down of the thistle or dandelion
imbedded
Blackberries, raspberries and mulber-
ries, on the other hand, are heaps of sim
liar seeds, each of which is surrounded
by fieshy pulp. So that while the true
fruits of the strawberry are scattered over
the surface of an edible pulp, those of
the raspberry are separately imbedded in
a similar tissue. 1t seems strange not to
call figs fruits, but we are forced not to
do SO, for acCuracy's sake. If you cut
open ripe fig you find it full of minute
| round seeds, whose crunching gives one
| the peculiar pleasant sensations of fig
eating. These are the genuine fruits, the
sweet tieshy substance in which they are
| imbedded being nothing more than a
| torus turned outside in, instead of the re-
verse, as in strawberry. In the earliest
stages of the growth of the fig, if you
| take the trouble to cut one in halves, you
will see the interior full of closely packed
| and genuine flowers.
Nearly twenty years ago, Professor
Balfour pointed out the singular fact
that, in the period from the termination
of seed to the time when the plant
which sprang from it had itself
some fruit, certain and more or less fixed
quantity of heat was required. Every
| species of plant uses up different guam
| tity-less in some, more in others. When
this cannot be supplied by natural sources
within given time-say, such period
as our English summer-the plant will
grow to some extent, but will neither
| flower nor seed, or it may flower, but not
seed, as the circumstances may be. We
now see the reason why tropical plants
| will not blossom with US in the open air
the heat supplied them during our short
summer is not sufficient. Perhaps if we
could continue it they might ultimately
| flower, though the time occupied in flow
ering and fruiting would be much longer
| than in their native climates. But our
winter comes on and rudely settles the
question by stopping the heat supplies,
and nipping by frost instead Balfour's
discovery enables US to understand why
we have, in our English climate, flowers
which seed early in the summer, and
others late in the autumn. In the former
case they require less heat to bring
them to perfection-in the later, more.
What wonderful insight does this law
! give us into that constant adjustment of
vegetable life TO its physical surround
| ings, by means of which the species are
| perpetuatedl And this continuous adj
! justment is all the more marvellous when
we know that climate is not fixed mat
ter, even in its heat supplies, as is evil
denced BY the geological discoveries re
lating to those changes of climate, dur
| ing the various epochs of the past, which
have taken place in every part OF the
globe.
1t is not heat alone that is required to
ripen fruits, and to thus complete the
great end of floral existence. Chemists
! tell US that the unseen rays beyond the
violet spectrum are peculiarly chemical
| in their effects The colors of the rain
| bow, seen in all light which has passed
through a glass prism and been decom-
posed, can be solved into three different
| kinds of physical action, as well as three
| different colors. One of these gives
light, another heat, and third chemical
action. The latter is termed actinic, and
and as Just remarked, its chief force ap-
pears to lie outside or in the violet part OF
the spectrum. Just as heat can be ex-
perienced below thered color, as what is
=, S.bJaoE heat - nv npr-