\ 



but it is not proper to keep thcfe longer than four or 

 five years, notvvichftanding they will grow at eight 

 or nine years old ; becaule when the feeds are too old, 

 the plants will be weak, and the fruit which they 

 produce will be fmall. 



An\aranthus, or Flower-gentle. 



Cabbacre, fee BralTica. 



Cedar of Libanus, fee Larix, if kept in the cones. 



Cucumber, fee Cucumis. 



Gourd, fee Cucurbita. 



Lettuce, fee Lacluca. 



Melon, fee Mclo. 



Pinus, the Pine-tree, if kept in the cones, 



Pumpion, fee Pepo. 



Savoy, fee Braffica. 



Simnel, or Squafh, fee Cucurbita. 



Water Melon, fee Anguria. 



The following is a lift of fuch Seeds as will frequently 

 remain in the earth a whole year, efpecially if they 

 are fown in the fpring ; fo that whenever the plants 

 do not come up the firft year, the ground lliould 

 remain undiflurbed till the following fpring (but 

 muft be kept clear from weeds) when the plants will 

 come up. 



Adonis, or Flos Adonis. 



Alaternus. 



Alexanders, fee Smyrnium. 



Angelica* 



Corn-fallad, fee Valerianella. 



Fennel, fee Foeniculum. 



pVaxinella, or White Dittany, fee Diftamnus. 



Golden-rod, fee Solidago. 



Gromwel, or Gramil, fee Lithofpermum. 



Hare's-ear, 



Hartwort, 





euruni. 



Mefp 



■'» 



*■' 



- ■ W-- --^ - , - 



1 -n Vf/- 



Peucedanumw , .^-.i^; 



Holly, fee Ilex. 

 Juniper, fee Juniperus. 

 Laferwort, fee Laferpitium. 

 Lovage, fee Ligufticum; .^-.rJ... 

 Maple, lee Acer. ..-/.'^ .^i:;!- 

 Mafterwort, fee Aftrantia. 

 Mercury, fee Mercurialis. ■ 



Moly. 



Piony, fee P^onia. 



Sefeli, or Sermountain, fee Siler. 



Spignel, fee Meum. 



Starwort, fee After. 



Stavefacre, fee Delphinium. 



Turnfole, fee Heliotropium* 



Yew, fee Taxusi 





V— 



rf 



iT . 



*'" - t 



*-^ 



E 



notes every year from the; times of fowlncr oreat va- 



rieties of Iccds, to the appearance of the plants abo\c 



And in this I have oblcrvcd luch odMncls )i\ 



ground. 



the growth, of feeds, as is not to be accounted tor"; 

 as that of fowing feeds of the lame plant for two er 

 three years fucceirively, and not having had one phvie 

 arife j and t!ie fourth year, from the rcir.aining pare of 

 the feeds, I have had fome plants come up^ notwith- 

 itanding the age of the Seeds. At other tinies it has 

 happened, that fome Seeds have grown the fame 

 fpring they were fown, and a great part of them 

 have remained in the ground till the followinc^ au- 

 tumn, when the plants have come up, fo that tiiere 

 have been two different crops from the fame fowino-. 

 I have alfo tried many experiments in keeping of 

 Seeds, and find the beft method to preferve them 

 good is, to keep them in a moderate temperature of 

 warmth, where they may not fuffer from any incle- 

 mencies in the outward air, nor have too much 

 warmth, which will exhale the moifture too freely, 

 and caufe the Seeds to decay Iboner than they other- 

 wife would do. This is well known to moft people 

 who cultivate Melons, who, when their Seeds are 

 new, which would occafion the plants beino- too vi- 

 gorous, and therefore not (o fruitful, put them into 

 the inner pocket of their breeches, which are in con- 

 ftant wear, where they keep them for fix weeks or 

 two months before they fowthern, wliich will weaken 

 the feeds as much as two years longer keeping them 

 in the ordinary way. 



All forts of Seeds v;ill keep much longer in their 

 pods, or outer coverings, where they can be thus pre- 

 ferved ; bccaufc the covering not only preferves them 

 from the injuries of the outward air, but if the Seeds 

 are not feparated from tlicm, they fupply them with 

 nourifliment, and thereby keep them plump and fair. 

 But the Seeds of all foft fruits, fuch as Cucumbers^ 

 Melons, &c. muft be cleanfed from the fruit ^nd 

 mucilage which furrounds them, otherwife the rot- 

 ting of thefe parts will corrupt and decay the Seeds in 

 a (hort time. 



• ^ ^- 



Wheo Seeds are gathered, it ihould always be done 

 in dry weather, when there is no moifture upbn them ; 

 - and then they fhould be hung up in bags (efpecially 

 thofe which vermin eat) in a dry room ; in which fitu- 

 ation they will keep longer than if they were clofely 

 ftiut up, and the air excluded from them. 

 There are but few people v;ho are curious enough in 

 faving their Seeds ; ibme, for want of judgment, not 

 diftinguilhing the beft plants of their kinds, to let 

 them grow for feeds ; and others,, out of covetoufnefs 

 to fave a great quantity of feeds, frequently let a 

 whole fpot of ground, filled with any particular fort 

 of plants run up to feed, fo that the good and bad 

 plants are faved indifferently, which is the occafion 

 of the general complaint of the badnefs of the Seeds 



If the feeds mentioned in this lift are fown foon after j rihich are commonly vended, and is what the dealers 



they are ripe, many of the forts will come up the 

 following fpring ; but whenever they fail fo to do, 

 there will be no danger of their growing the following 

 year, provided thejieeds w^ere good, therefore people 

 fhould not defpair of them the firft year. Moft of 

 the umbelliferous plants have this property of remain- 

 ing in the ground feveral months, and fometimes a 

 whole year, before the plants appear ; therefore they 

 fhould be managed accordingly, by fowing their 

 feeds on a border, which can be fuffered to remain 

 undiflurbed till the plants come up. There are fome 

 particular forts of feeds, which I have known remain 

 in the ground eighteen months, and fometimes two 

 years, after which time the plants have come up very 

 well: of thefe forts are the Morina, Tribulus ter- 

 reftris, Stavefacre, Mercury, and fome others ; but 

 as they do not conftantly remain fo long in the 

 ground, there can be no certainty of the -time when 



the plants will appear. 



The rules here laid down, concerning the length of 

 time which feeds may be kept out of the ground and 

 prove good, will in general be found true ; beine 



in Seeds fhould endeavour to remedy 

 There is a common method of trying the goodnefs of 

 many forts of Seeds, which is, by putting them in wa- 

 ter, and thofe of them which fnik to the bottom are 

 efteemed sood, but v/hat fwim on the furface are re- 



O 111' 



jefted as good for little ; but this will not hoid ir> 

 many forts, for I have faved the Seeds of Melons, 

 which have floated on the furface of the water when 

 they were waflied from the pulp, and after keeping 



them two years, they have grown well ; but the Me- 



" thick 



drawn up from feveral years experience 



Ions produced on thefe plants were not fo 

 fle{hed,as thofe which were produced from heavy Seeds 

 of the fame Meion. The iightnefs of many forts or 

 Seeds, I apprehend, may be owing to their not having 

 been fufficiently impregnated by the farina foecun- 

 dans ; which is frequently the cafe with thole plar/.s 

 that are kept in ftoves, or under frames, where the ex- 

 ternal air is often too much excluded from them, vvhich 

 may be abfolutely neceflary to the conveying of t.-e 

 farina in fubftsnce, or the gentle effluvia thereof, to 

 the titerine cells ; and this more particularly may he 

 the cafe, in thofe forts which are male and female 



in different plants ; .or where the male flowers grov/ 



.* 



/ 



