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len, fhed from the antheræ into the cup of the flower, is catched in its descent by the head of the piftil, called the ftigma. But how is this managed when the flowers hang down, (as does the crown imperial, for inftance,) and in which position, the farina, in its fall, would be carried from the ftigma, and not towards it? The relative length of the parts is now inverted. The pistil in these flowers is usually longer, inftead of fhorter, than the stamina, that its protruding fummit may receive the pollen as it drops to the ground. In fome cafes, (as in the nigella,) where the shafts of the piftils or styles are difproportionably long, they bend down their extremities upon the antheræ, that the neceffary approximation may be effected.

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But (to pursue this great work in its grefs,) the impregnation, to which all this machinery relates, being completed, the other parts of the flower fade and drop off, whilft the gravid feed-veffel, on the contrary, proceeds to increase its bulk, always to a great, and in some species (in the gourd, for example, and melon,) to a furprifing comparative fize; affuming in different plants an incalculable variety of forms, but all evidently conducing

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to the security of the feed. By virtue of this process, so neceffary, but fo diverfified, we have the feed, at length, in ftone fruits and nuts, incased in a strong shell, the shell itself inclosed in a pulp or husk, by which the feed within is, or hath been,fed; or, more generally (as in grapes, oranges, and the numerous kinds of berries,) plunged overhead in a glutinous fyrup, contained within a skin or bladder: at other times (as in apples and pears) embedded in the heart of a firm fleshy fubftance; or (as in ftrawberries) pricked into the surface of a soft pulp. These and many more varieties exist in what we call fruits *. In pulfe, and grain,

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* From the conformation of fruits alone, one might be led, even without experience, to fuppofe, that part of this provifion was deftined for the utilities of animals. As limited to the plant, the provision itself seems to go beyond its object. The flesh of an apple, the pulp of an orange, the meat of a plum, the "fatnefs of the olive," appear to be more than sufficient for the nourishing of the feed or kernel. The event fhews, that this redundancy, if it be one, minifters to the fupport and gratification of animal natures: and when we obferve a provifion to be more than fufficient for one purpofe, yet wanted for another purpose, it is not unfair to conclude that both purposes were contemplated together. It favors this view of the fubject to remark, that fruits are not (which they might have been) ready all together, but that they ripen in fucceffion throughout a great part of the

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and graffes; in trees, and shrubs, and flowers; the variety of the feed-veffels is incomputable. We have the feeds (as in the pea tribe) regularly difpofed in parchment pods, which, though soft and membranous, completely exclude the wet even in the heaviest rains; the pod alfo, not feldom (as in the bean) lined. with a fine down; at other times (as in the fenna) diftended like a blown bladder or we have the feed enveloped in wool (as in the cotton plant), lodged (as in pines) between the hard and compact scales of a cone; or barricadoed (as in the artichoke and thistle) with fpikes and prickles; in mushrooms, placed under a penthoufe; in ferns, within flits in the back part of the leaf; or (which is the most general organization of all) we find them covered by strong, clofe, tunicles, and attached to the ftem according to an order appropriated to each plant, as is feen in the feveral kinds of grain, and of graffes.

year; fome in fummer; fome in autumn; that fome require the flow maturation of the winter, and fupply the fpring: alfo that the coldest fruits grow in the hottest places. Cucumbers, pine apples, melons, are the narural produce of warm climates, and contribute greatly, by their coolness, to the refreshment of the inhabitants of thofe countries.

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In which enumeration what we have firft to notice is, unity of purpose under variety of expedients. Nothing can be more single than the design; more diverfified than the means. Pellicles, fhells, pulps, pods, husks, skins, scales armed with thorns, are all employed in profecuting the fame intention. Secondly; we may obferve, that, in all these cafes, the purpofe is fulfilled within a just and limited degree. We can perceive, that, if the feeds of plants were more ftrongly guarded than they are, their greater fecurity would interfere with other ufes. Many fpecies of animals would fuffer, and many perish, if they could not obtain accefs to them. The plant would overrun the foil; or the feed be wafted for want of room to fow itself. It is, fometimes, as neceffary to deftroy particular species of plants, as it is, at other times, to encourage their growth. Here, as in many cafes, a balance is to be maintained between opposite uses. The provisions for the prefervation of feeds appear to be directed, chiefly against the inconftancy of the elements, or the fweeping deftruction of inclement feafons. The depredation of animals, and the injuries of accidental violence, are allowed for in the abundance

abundance of the increase. The refult is, that, out of the many thousand different plants which cover the earth, not a single species, perhaps, has been loft fince the creation.

When nature has perfected her feeds, her next care is to disperse them. The feed cannot answer its purpofe, while it remains confined in the capfule. After the feeds therefore are ripened, the pericarpium opens to let them out; and the opening is not like an accidental bursting, but, for the most part, is according to a certain rule in each plant. What I have always thought very extraordi nary, nuts and shells, which we can hardly crack with our teeth, divide and make way for the little tender fprout which proceeds from the kernel. Handling the nut, I could hardly conceive how the plantule was ever to get out of it. There are cafes, it is faid, in which the feed-veffel by an elastic jerk, at the moment of its explofion, cafts the feed to a distance. We all however know, that many feeds (thofe of moft compofite flowers, as of the thistle, dandelion, &c.) are endowed with what are not improperly called wings; that is, downy appendages, by which they are enabled to float in the air, and are carried often-i

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