VITALITY OF SEEDS. 35 



planted with Rhododendrons, Azaleas and Kalmias. 

 Two years ago we took up all the Rhododendrons, 

 etc., and allowed the space to go to waste, as it was 

 to be used for bedding purposes. It had been kept 

 thoroughly clean all the time up to the removal of 

 the shrubs. This year a customer was anxious to 

 get a lot of Golden Eod flowers, and upon the little 

 spot of half an acre we cut three hundred heads, of 

 at least five species or varieties, with stems three to 

 four feet high. Here the seeds had lain all the 

 time, only waiting for the sun and air to give them 

 life." In this case we cannot be quite sure from 

 the circumstances as recorded that seeds may not 

 have come from surrounding sources. 



As an example of the way seeds may become 

 buried in the soil without being of great age the 

 following case will serve: 



A writer in the Gardeners' Chronicle^ for 1856, 

 page 6, states that in a stone quarry the excava- 

 tions of the common earth worm were traced to the 

 depth of ten or twelve feet: "At the bottom is a 

 chamber, which generally contains quantities of 

 small stones and seeds; of these I noticed particu- 

 larly the rough " boll " of flax, the stones being a 

 size larger than these. The cavities run from one 



o 



inch to one and a half inches in diameter, the per- 

 pendicular tube or track (and chambers also ) being 

 lined by an exceeding fine black earth, like that 



