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834 ERUITS IN THEIR SEASON.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
\ Ix. Chekby Bipe. | I / • " See Scatt W...
b of y the a sing blossom le ovary disappearing , which , eventuall 1 when y becomes this is formed the fruit . , The every perfect trace
fruit is , in botanical language , a drupe , for the hard or bony part which combines with skin and flesh , to make up its being is not , as
in the case of nuts , spread in lobster-like style over its exterior , but , . after the fashion of superior animalsis keptas a skeletonwithin
collected into a central ball as a foundation , for , its globose shape , . A , very pleasant object to the eye is this roundruddyshining cherry ;
, , and what a contrast is presented in its smooth swelling globular form to that of the flat and pointed leafwith its sharply cut
, serrations at . the edges , even as its fierce flaming color is in striking opposition to the cool green of the foliage . And yet pleasanter is
it to the taste , that morsel of delicate flesh , all oozy with freshening juice ; can any likeness be found there to the dry crude matter
which . nils up the veiny network of the leaves ? Yet , say the morphologists , this red tasteful ball of juicy pulp is after all but—a
leaf;—altered it is true , call it _j _3 erfected or call it perverted , whichever term may be preferredbut still—a leafand nothing more ;
, , and it is the cherry-tree which is especially pointed to by the adherents of this theory , as the triumphant vindication of their
views . The first hint of its being possible that leaves were gradually transmuted into all the other organs of a plant appears to have
been originally given by _Linnseus , but it was the _j _> oet Goethe who wrought out the idea and developed it into a systemnow so
, generally adopted that there are few , if any , naturalists who do not admit at least its great principles , namelythat the laws which
regu-, late vegetable structure are so simple and uniform that their action in every part of a plant is exactly similar , and the arrangement
of any subsequent development is but a _rejDetition of that which was observed in the normal germ , as a melody may be made the
theme of a thousand variations , yet through all the " linked sweetness long drawn out" the notes of the original air be still distinctly
traced . According to this theory then , a flower-bud , being exactly analogous to a leaf-budthe object into which it develops is to be
, considered as a metamorphosed branch , though instead of shooting out into a long twig , garnished throughout its length with scattered
leaves all formed upon one pattern , its energies , compressed within nearer limits , unfold into a more closely gathered group of objects
of diversified form and texture . In ascending or progressive metamorphosis the first departure from the regular form of the leaf
is seen in the usually still green and somewhat leaf-like sepals , or divisions of the calyx ; the next modification changes these into
the petals or divisions of the corolla ; one more advance contracts these into stamens ; and the final step forms a central * ] pistilthe
divisions of which , if more than one leaf enters into its composition _, , are termed carpels . Cultivationor other causeswill sometimes
, , iC reverse the charm " and induce retrograde metamorphosis , such
as is seen in ordinary double flowers , where the petals , which in
834 Eruits In Their Season.
834 ERUITS IN THEIR SEASON .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1861, page 334, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071861/page/46/
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