. The American fruit culturist. ld be taken at a time. The object in crack-ing peach and plum-stones before planting, is to admit air andmoisture—a process which is also hastened by subjectingthem to freezing and thawing. The Structure of the Plant or Tree.—All plants, in the firstplace, are manufactured or built up of innumerable , sacs, or cavities. These are usually not over a five- PRINCIPLES OF THE GROWTH OF TREES. 3 hundredth part of an inch in diameter, and in many plantsthey are still smaller. Fig. i exhibits a section of the woodof the maple cut across—presenting many thou
. The American fruit culturist. ld be taken at a time. The object in crack-ing peach and plum-stones before planting, is to admit air andmoisture—a process which is also hastened by subjectingthem to freezing and thawing. The Structure of the Plant or Tree.—All plants, in the firstplace, are manufactured or built up of innumerable , sacs, or cavities. These are usually not over a five- PRINCIPLES OF THE GROWTH OF TREES. 3 hundredth part of an inch in diameter, and in many plantsthey are still smaller. Fig. i exhibits a section of the woodof the maple cut across—presenting many thousands of theselittle vessels, only visible under a good microscope. Thebranch of an apple-tree, an inch in diameter, cut across, showsabout one million. This cellular structure exists throughoutthe roots, stems, shoots, leaves, flowers, and fruit. The cells of plants usually vary from i-30oth to i-5ooth of aninch in diameter, and it is obvious that during vigorousgrowth the plant forms them with great rapidity. A shoot of. Fiu. I.—Cross Section of Tree Trunk. asparagus increases the length of one cell every ten seconds;and as its diameter embraces many thousands, from fifty to ahunred million are formed every day. The building up of theplant of these cells has been compared to the erection of ahouse by the successive addition of bricks; but if as manybricks were daily added to a structure, they would be enoughto make a building daily larger than the great pyramid ofEgypt, or the Coliseum at Rome. Yet every one of thesecells is as perfect and finished as the finest work of art. The root consists of several parts (Fig. 2). The main root,called also the tap root, is the large central portion, extend-ing downward. In many plants or trees, however, it is PRINCIPLES OF THE GROWTH OF TREES. divided as growth advances, until lost in laterals or sidebranches. The fibres or rootlets are the small thread-likeroots proceeding from the laterals; and lastly, the smallest ofa
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