Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-03-19

l56. For this reason, while leaf.buds
can be used for the purpose of propagation,
hower'buds cannot usually be so employed
l57. Being stunted branches, their posi-
tlop on the stem is the same as that Of de-
veloped branches.
los. And as there is in all plants very
great difference in the development Of leaf
buds. some growing readily into branches,
others only unfolding their leaves without
elongating, aud many remaining altogether
dormant, it follows that hower-buds may
form upon plants Of whatever age and in
whatever state.
l59. But to produce general forma.
tion Of hower.buds it is necessary that there
should be some general predisposing consti-
tutional cause independent Of accidental cir
cumstances
160. This predisposiug cause is the ac-
cumulatiOn OF sap and Of secreted matter.
= I8f. Therefore, whatever tends to retard
the free flow of sap, and causes il to accumu.
late, will cause the production Of flower
buds. or fertility.
! 1862. And, on the other hand, whatever
tends to produce excessive vigor, causes the
dispersion Of sap, or prevents its elaboration,
and causes sterility.
1853. Transplantation with partial de-
struction of roots, age, or high temperature
accompanied by a dry atmosphere, training
obliquely or in an inverted direction a con-
slant destruction Of the extremities of youbg
growing branches, will all cause an accumu-
lation Of sap, and sccretions and, conse-
quently, all such circumstances are favorable
to the production of Aower-buds.
164. But a richly manfred soil, high
temperature, with great atmospheric humid.
ity, or an uninterrupted flow of sep. are all
causes of excessive vigor, aud are conse-
quently unfavorable to the production of
Aower-buds.
l65. There is tendency in many flow.
ers to enlarge to alter their colors, or to
change their appearance by transformation
aud multiplication of their parts whenever
they have been raised from seed for several
generations, or dotnesticated
166. The causes of this tendency are
probably various, but, being entirely un-
known, no certain rules for the production Of
varieties in flowers can be laid down, ex-
cept by the aid of hybridizing.
167. 1t often happens that single
branch produces flowers different from those
produced on other branches. This is techni.
cally called sport.
16S. As every bud on that branch has
the same specific vital principle, bud ta-
ken from such a branch will produce an indi-
vidual, tho whole of whose branches will re-
tain the character Of the sport.
1863. Consequently by buds an accden-
tai variety may be made permanent if the
plant that sports be ofa firm woody nature.
10. Aslfowers feed upon the prepared
sap in their vicinity, the greater the abun-
dance Of this prepared food, the more per-
feet will be their development.
Ill. Or, the fewer the flowers on Civ.
en- branch, the more food they will severally
have to n0urish them, and the more perfect
will theyb be.
l72. The beauty Of flowers will there
fore be increased either by an abundant slp-
ply oi food, or by diminution of their mum.
bers (thiuning), or by both. The business of
the pruner is to cause these by his opera
ton.
l7S. The beauty of flowers depends upon
sheir free exposure to light aud air, because
it consists in the richness of their colors. and
their colors are only formed by the action of
these two agents.
IVA. Hence flowers produced in dark or
shaded confined situations are either imper-
feet or destitute of their habitual size aud
beauty.
IT'S. Double flowers are those in which
the stamens are transformed into petals; or
in which the latter, or the sepals, are multi
piled. They should not be confounded with
ProlyerOuS and Discoid Compound FlOao.
erS.
l76. Although no certain rules for the
production Of double flowers can be laid
down, yet It is probable that those flowers
have the greatest tendency to become double
10 which the sexes are habitually multiplied.
III. In Icosandrous and Polyandrous
plants either the stamens or the pstilla are
always very numerous when the flowers are
in natural state; aud it is chiefly in such
plants that double flowers occur when they
become transformed.
IT'S. 1t is therefore in such plants that
double flowers are to be principally expect
ed.
l79. In proportion as the sexes of now-
ers habtually become few in mum Der, do the
instances of double flowers become rare.
| $50. Double flowers are therefore least
to be expected in plants with fewest STAN.
] ems.
l8l. Whenever the component parts of
flower adhere by their edges, as in mono.
phyllous calyxes, mOnopetalous corolas, aud
mOnadelphous, or di-, or polyadelphous stam-
ems, the tendency to an unnatural multiplica-
tion of parts seems checked.
lS2. Therefore, in such cases, double
flowers are little to be expected they are,
in fact, very rare.
1873. Proliferous flowers are those in
which parts that Usually have all their axil-
larry buds dormant accidentally developed
such buds as in the Hen and Chicken Daisy,
in which the braetee Of the inyolucrum form
other Daisy-heads in their axille; OF as in
certain Roses, 10 which the capillary leaves
develop leaf.buds in their axiie, so that tho
flowers become a branch the lower leaves of
which are colorod aud transformed, and the
upper green, and in their ordinary state.
l04. Discoid compound flowers are those
10 which the central Aorets of hower-head
acquire corolas, like those of the circumfer-
ence, as in the Dahla the cultivated varie-
ties of which should be called discoid, aud
not double.
1856. Those two last are so essentially
different from double flowers, that whatever
laws may be supposed to govern the prOduc-
tion or ameioration Of double flowers, can
have no relation to proliferous or disOOid
compound flowers
The Fruit Tree Humbug.