Grower

“ We might divide plants into two groups, cultivated plants and wild plants. In trees we have some fruit trees which are never worth a cent. Apple trees suggest home. If you are driving through the woods and come upon an apple tree, you immediately think, "Someone had a home here once." Of course, it might have grown from a chance seed but that is the thought you have at once. The apple tree connotes the thought of home.
I happen to be a fruit tree as well as a nut tree grower. ”

“ This is more or less a matter of opinion, some growers preferring a low and others a high head. The character of the tree growth, the method of culture, and the purpose of the tree whether temporary or permanent greatly influence the height of the head. ”

“ We had to establish gardens where we could grow these trees and send out the young plants to growers and in these gardens we have test nurseries or test orchards as we call them where we grow these fruits. ”

“ When a new Rose or Carnation appears on the market, you want us to grow it. We invest our money, and often get no returns. A Rose or Carnation that may best appeal to you may not pay for the space given it. And yet we persist in trying, year after year, in order to satisfy the demands of the discriminating public."
There is, of course, something to be said on both sides. The retailer is logical from his point of view; and the grower's arguments are quite rational, too. ”

“ As a seed of a tree, when planted in the soil, germinates, grows, flowers and bears fruit, so does a Karma-impression germinate, grow, flower and bear fruit. As the germ of a seed, in process of development, produces the events called sprouting, putting forth leaves and branches, flowering and fruiting, lo, a man's mental thought-impressions of previous lives, in almost the self-same way, sprout, put forth leaves and branches, flower and fruit in the shape of events, inside and outside of him. The thought-impressions are reflected upon the aura. ”

“ The farmer plows and plants. He cultivates in hope, watching his growing grain in graceful, wave-like motion wafted to and fro by the warm summer winds. The green begins to golden; the harvest is at hand. Joy lightens his labor as the fruit of past toil is about to be realized. ”

“ So also is the A ́tmâ in man ere evolution and struggle have begun. Plant your seed in the ground, so that the forces in the ground press on it, and the rays of the sun from outside make vibrations that work on it, and the water from the rain comes through the soil into it and forces it to swell—then [55] the seed begins to grow; but as it begins to grow it finds the earth around. How shall it grow but by pushing at it and so bringing out the energies of life that are within it? ”

“ ANATOMICAL STRUCTURE AND GROWTH.
394. Growth is the increase of a living thing in size and substance. It appears so natural that plants and animals should grow, that one rarely thinks of it as requiring explanation. It seems enough to say that a thing is so because it grew so. Growth from the seed, the germination and development of an embryo into a plantlet, and at length into a mature plant (as illustrated in Sections II. and III.) , can be followed by ordinary observation. ”

“ The highly and purely poetic is the sudden bursting into blossom of a great and tender thought. The planting of the seed, the growth, the bud and flower must be rapid. The spring must be quick and warm, the soil perfect, the sunshine and rain enough—everything should tend to hasten, nothing to delay. ”

“ It is a sort of mental growth with them; at every instant a bud shoots forth, and on this another and still another; each producing, increasing, blooming of itself, so that after a few moments we find first a green plant crop up, then a thicket, then a forest. ”

“ The soft air is full of myriads of little voices; small rustling things disturb the grass; the soft sod yields beneath my step, and pungent odors float down the wind. Life, imperious life is singing in the night its message of growth. Grow and multiply, grow, grow for to-morrow the harvest. ”

“ But though I said that nothing will grow but seed, it does not, of course, follow that every seed will grow, or, if it does, that you yourself will reap the exact harvest you expect, or even recognise it in its fruitage as the growth of what you have sown. ”

“ Fancy the joy of finding a real mind; of dropping seed in a soil so warm, so fertile, that one knows there are sure to be foliage, blossoms, and fruit all in good time! I wish I were not so impatient and so greedy of results! ”

“ When the children put a seed into the ground, and wait until it fructifies, and see the first appearance of the shapeless plant, and wait for the growth and the transformations into flower and fruit, and see how some plants sprout sooner and some later, and how the deciduous plants have a rapid life, and the fruit-trees a slower growth, they end by acquiring a peaceful equilibrium of conscience, and absorb the first germs of that wisdom which so characterised the tillers of the soil in the time when they still kept their primitive simplicity. ”

“ Gathering the fruit is not yet over, and the thousand unaccustomed cracklings make the tree seem alive. A branch groans as it bends beneath a burden which has reached, of a sudden, the last stage of growth ”

“ By this I don't mean to suggest that he cannot grow in beauty and goodness, but that in his case such growth must be that of the unfolding flower, of the ripening seed, of the tree soaring aloft and crowning itself with foliage. ”

“ A species, for example, is either shrubby or tree-like. Yet under varying environment, size of plant and of the parts of the plant, are probably the first to change. Habit of growth is nearly as important as size and varies but little under changing conditions. A species or variety may be upright, spreading, drooping or round-topped in growth; head open or dense; the tree rapid or slow-growing. ”

“ Now, considering how many Grains there are in one good Ear, and how many Ears [273] on one Plant, we find, that there is not One Plant in Ten that lives till Harvest, even when there has not been Frost in the Winter sufficient to kill any of them; or if we count the Number of Plants that come up on a certain Measure of Ground, and count them again in the Spring, and likewise at Harvest, we shall be satisfied, that most or all of the Plants that are missing, could die by no other Accident than want of Nourishment. ”

“ While he, with infinite labor, prepares the ground and sows his seed with all care, praying that drouth may not wither nor floods drown it, and that frosts may not cut down the tender plants, the winds of heaven and the fowls of the air scatter broadcast the seeds of the noxious weeds, or these lie dormant in the ground awaiting opportunity. They germinate in sterile places, fence corners and nooks of the wayside, and flourish alike in scorching sunshine and in sodden soil. ”

“ But, after the ground is freed from its icy envelope, everything starts into life, and grows with the most astonishing rapidity. A plant will spring up, grow two or three feet high perhaps, bud, blossom, and bear fruit in the time our plants of the temperate zone will be producing a foot or so of stalk and leaves. ”

“ I turn my eye to this plant; it is at a definite stage of growth between its budding and its maturity, not in the smallest degree nearer or more remote from either than it is. Everything that exists is determined throughout; it is what it is, and nothing else. ”

“ The farmer plants a seed in the soil, the sunshine sprouts it, nourishes the growing plant, and during the season locks itself to and within its tissues, binding the otherwise dead materials of that tissue together into an organized structure. ”

“ The skillful gardener, looking over his flowers, finds a plant of more than ordinary beauty and thrift of growth. When it comes to maturity he keeps its seeds separate from those of the rest and next year plants them by themselves. As they come up he weeds out all unthrifty plants, only allowing the strongest to come to maturity. ”

“ In other words, the seed reacts upon the external stimulations of water, heat, and light, and manifests the activity known as growth, or development. Thus all physical growth, whether of the plant or the animal, is conditioned on the energizing of the inherent life principle, in response to appropriate stimulation of the environment. ”

“ As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these, if vigorous, branch out and overtop on all sides many a feebler branch, so by generation I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever-branching and beautiful ramification. ”

“ The rate of plant growth is multiplied thousands of times so that we are enabled actually to see the plants growing, expanding from bud to flower under our eyes. But there is also the retardation of pace, which is even more wonderful. ”

“ When I plant my crops I give them such attention that it seems they have every confidence that I will remove all obstructions to hinder their growth, and the young and tender plants seem to avail themselves of the situation and spring up as by magic. ”

“ To wild trees, as compared with cultivated ones, belong the special properties of fruiting late, of greater vigour, of abundance of fruit, produced if not matured; for they ripen their fruit later, and in general their time of flowering and making growth is later; also they are more vigorous in growth, and so, though they produce more fruit, they ripen it less ”

“ So widely has the sower scattered the seed, so strong is the germinative force that bids it bud and blossom. But, alas, for the stony ground, and the birds and the tares! For one who attains his full stature, how many are stunted and deformed. ”

“ There is a general feeling that the growth of the young plant has been too luxuriant; a desire to have it vigorously pruned by a capable gardener, in order that its strength may be gathered together to produce a more perfect fruit. ”

“ To grow like a tree, slowly and placidly, with long sensitive roots penetrating the soil, a thousand branches wrestling with the storm, and leaves without number drinking the sun and the dew through myriad pores, must have its deep delights. ”

“ Flowers, though they were well enough in their proper places,—the front garden or the grass,—were usually a nuisance that crept through the crops and choked their growth, until descended upon and tediously jerked up, one after another, by the roots. And a man who could give his entire time not only to the collection of nosegays but to the gathering of weeds, could not have the esteem of the big brothers. ”

“ Another plants the seed and sees the harvest spring—that day Comes one whose face he does not know, and takes a third away.
A little child, whose plaintive mouth has never learned to laugh, Sits stringing beads—to her appears the man who claims his half. ”

“ But the habits of plants, their growth requirements, their stature, and particularly their colors are so various that, with the best will in the world, a garden enthusiast without some knowledge of these things will get a wholly disappointing result. Certain plants will grow in some sections of the country, but fail in others; some flower in the south, but will not do so in the north, and a few set seeds in certain places, but never do in less favored regions. ”

“ By this miracle of Nature, an infinite number of plants, in an endless procession, may be propagated from the product of a single seed, each plant complete in its heredity and differing from its fellows only in accordance with environment. ”

“ The plant must have good soil, water and air and sun, care and pruning, in order to grow, but it grows of itself, gains strength by proper nourishment. The [Pg 84] aggregation of material about the plant does not constitute its growth. The plant must assimilate; the juices of life must flow through it. ”

“ But while this unvarying habit of growth is one of the fixed laws of plant life, there are occasional deviations from it. A plant which, under normal conditions of growth, develops in a certain fixed way, when exposed to unusual environmental conditions, may, and often does, alter its habit of growth in what may metaphorically be said to be an attempt to adjust itself to the new conditions. ”

“ Growth is a concise expression for those forms which denote the special vigour shown by plants at certain epochs of their growth, the twist of the stem of creeping plants to get light to the flowers, the bursting of the bud from a capsule, or the clasp of a tendril. ”

“ A kindly face also, despite its half-bewildered look, as one after another of the seedlings comes up to receive the reward of merit. One after another solemnly, for dotted here and there behind the screen of walls and bushes squats many a critical mother, determined that her particular plant shall receive its fair share of watering, or cease to be part of the harvest necessary for a good report. ”

“ We have plowed the furrow and planted the good seed; the hard beginning is over. If we would reap the full harvest, we must cultivate the soil where this good seed is sprouting and the plant is reaching up to mature growth. ”

“ If the pupil has access to a forest, let him determine why there are no branches on the trunks of the old trees. Examine a tree of the same kind growing in an open field. 5. A row of lettuce or other plants sown thick will soon show the competition between plants. Any fence row or weedy place will also show it. Why does the farmer destroy the weeds among the corn or potatoes? How does the florist reduce competition to its lowest terms? ”

“ Suppose we have a plant with a small edible seed, and we want to increase the size of that seed. We grow as large a quantity of it as possible, and when the crop is ripe we carefully choose a few of the very largest seeds, or we may by means of a sieve sort out a quantity of the largest seeds. ”