NOTES. 



863 



ripe seeds of many kinds will germinate and 

 grow into independent plants if sown imme- 

 diately after removal from the parent. This 

 may be readily observed in wheat, and the 

 same property is found occasionally in vari- 

 ous other plants. Sometimes the seeds of 

 pulpy fruits germinate in the fruit. The 

 vitality of certain seeds is not impaired by 

 floating and being partially submerged in 

 sea water for as long as a year. Plants are 

 growing at Kew from seeds that have been 

 thus exposed. Some seeds will bear immer- 

 sion in boiling water for a short time ; but 

 seeds of all kinds will bear for a consid- 

 erably longer period a much higher dry 

 temperature than they will soaking in wa- 

 ter of the same temperature. D17 grain is 

 equally impervious to cold. Some of the 

 fir trees, especially of North America, bear 

 the seed vessels containing quick seeds of 

 many successive seasons ; and only under the 

 influence of forest fires or excessive drought 

 do they open and release the seed. The un- 

 opened cones of thirty years have been count- 

 ed on some fir trees ; and it is averred that 

 the seed vessels of some proteaceous trees do 

 not open to shed their seed, under ordinary 

 conditions, until the death of the parent 

 plants. The stories of the germination of 

 " mummy wheat " have not been confirmed ; 

 but kidney beans taken from the herbarium of 

 Tournefort are said to have grown after hav- 

 ing been thus preserved for at least a hun- 

 dred years. Wheat and rye are said to have 

 preserved their vitality for as long a period. 

 Seeds of the sensitive plant germinated at 

 the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, when sixty 

 years old. If seeds retain their vitality for 

 so long periods under such conditions, it is 

 quite conceivable that seeds buried deep in 

 the earth, beyond atmospheric influences and 

 where there is not excessive moisture, might 

 retain their germinative power for an indefi- 

 nite period. 



Cultivation of Dates at Tafiiet. The cul- 

 tivation of dates and leather work form, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Walter B. Harris, the sole 

 industries of Tafiiet, Morocco. The water 

 for irrigating purposes is brought by many 

 canals from the Wad Biz to the palm groves. 

 The soil under the trees is carefully dug, and 

 divided by low raised banks into squares 

 from ten to twenty yards in extent. Into 



these, by removing a small part of the bank 

 into which the water flows for the canals 

 are raised above the general level of the soil 



a connection is formed with the canal and 

 the land flooded, the water being allowed to 

 proceed from square to square by removing 

 portions of the dikes. The object of this 

 irrigating of the patches separately is to 

 avoid waste, only the portion which actually 

 requires water receiving it; these squares 

 are cultivated with lucerne, wheat, and barley 

 where the shade of the palms is not excess- 

 ive, and maize and palms, the latter of which 

 are not so common as in other parts of the 

 desert, for the dates take their place as the 

 staple article of food of the people. Besides 

 the palm supplying the people with provision, 

 the coarser species of dates are employed for 

 fodder, and constitute the chief food of such 

 cattle as there are, and of horses and donkeys. 

 The finer qualities are exported to Fez and 

 Morocco City by caravan, the pack animals 

 bringing in return wheat and European 

 manufactures and rough iron. About ninety 

 per cent of the export of Tafiiet dates from 

 Morocco go to London. 



NOTES. 



In the construction of the new speedway 

 at High Bridge, New York, a bed of quick- 

 sand was encountered, which much impeded 

 the work. The difficulty was obviated by 

 the artificial refrigerating process. A row 

 of four-inch pipes was sunk a few feet apart 

 to the depth of forty feet. These pipes were 

 capped at the bottom, and inside them were 

 inserted smaller pipes open at the bottom. 

 Cold air was forced f om a condenser through 

 the smaller pipes into the larger and thence 

 returned to the condenser. The air was 

 cooled by expansion to a temperature of 

 about 45 C, thus freezing the surrounding 

 mud and wet sand, and checking the flow 

 into the excavation. 



A Mr. Bickesten, of Liverpool, proposes 

 to avoid the hardship of having in the 

 future to remove from the marine service 

 persons who may be found defective in vision 

 by making the tests for their admission 

 more stringent. He therefore suggests new- 

 rules providing that no boy or man shall lie 

 allowed to enter the service until his form 

 vision and color vision have been tested and 

 found sufficient ; that their certificate of eye- 

 sight be exhibited by seamen before they are 

 permitted to sign articles; that color-blind- 

 ness and defective vision be made in them- 

 selves reasons for breaking indenture engage- 



