CHAP. 22. (14.)—GRAFTING: THE FIRST DISCOVERY OF IT.
Nature has also taught us the art of grafting by means of
seed. We see a seed swallowed whole by a famished bird;
when softened by the natural heat of the crop, it is voided,
with the fecundating juices of the dung, upon some soft couch
formed by a tree; or else, as is often the case, is carried by the
winds to some cleft in the bark of a tree. Hence [Note] it is that
we see the cherry growing upon the willow, the plane upon
the laurel, the laurel upon the cherry, and fruits of various
tints and hues all springing from the same tree at once. It is
said, too, that the jack-daw, from its concealment of the seeds
of plants in holes which serve as its store-houses, gives rise to
a similar result.
