18431862] VITALITY OF SEEDS 243 



sure I may speak on the part of Prof. Henslow that all my Letter 575 

 collection (which gives a fair representation of the Alpine 

 flora of Tierra del Fuego and of Southern Patagonia) will 

 be joyfully laid at his disposal. 



To John Lindley. 1 Letter 576 



Down, Saturday [April 8th, 1843]. 



I take the liberty, at the suggestion of Dr. Royle, 2 of 

 forwarding to you a few seeds, which have been found under 

 very singular circumstances. They have been sent to me 

 by Mr. W. Kemp, of Galashiels, a (partially educated) man, 

 of whose acuteness and accuracy of observation, from several 

 communications on geological subjects, I have a very higJi 

 opinion. He found them in a layer under twenty-five feet 

 thickness of white sand, which seems to have been deposited 

 on the margins of an anciently existing lake. These seeds 

 are not known to the provincial botanists of the district. He 

 states that some of them germinated in eight days after being 

 planted, and are now alive. Knowing the interest you took 

 in some raspberry seeds, mentioned, I remember, in one of 

 your works, I hope you will not think me troublesome in 

 asking you to have these seeds carefully planted, and in 

 begging you so far to oblige me as to take the trouble to 

 inform me of the result. Dr. Daubeny has started for Spain, 

 otherwise I would have sent him some. Mr. Kemp is 

 anxious to publish an account of his discovery himself, so 



1 John Lindley (1799-1865) was born at Catton, near Norwich. His 

 first appointment was that of Assistant Librarian to Sir Joseph Banks. 

 He was afterwards Assistant Secretary to the Horticultural Society, and 

 during his tenure of that office he organised the first fruit and flower 

 shows held in this country. In 1829 he was chosen to be the first 

 Professor of Botany at University College, London, and a few years later 

 he became Lecturer to the Apothecaries' Company. He is the author of 

 a large number of botanical books, of which the best known is the 

 Vegetable Kingdom, 1846. He was one of the founders of the Gardeners 1 

 Chronicle, and was its principal editor up to the time of his death. He 

 was endowed with great powers of work and remarkable energy. He is 

 said as a young man to have translated Richard's Analyse du Fruit in 

 a single sitting of three nights and two days. (From the article on 

 Lindley in the Dictionary of National BiograpJiy, which is founded on 

 the Gardeners' Chronicle, 1865, pp. 1058, 1082.) 



2 See Letter 29, note 2, Vol. I. 



