478 Scalding as a Stimulant to Acacia Seeds. 



In the hot-bed, — 



1, boiled for 1^ minute, came up in 8 days. 

 1-3 minutes 7 days. 

 1 6 7 days. 

 1 15 - - - 13 days. 



2, in boiling water, left to cool - 9 days. 

 2, not steeped - - 21 days. 



We cannot draw any decided inference from the single seed, 

 which was boiled for 15 minutes, having been more retarded 

 than the rest, as it might have been a bad specimen ; but it 

 seems very clear, that the heat to which these seeds were ex- 

 posed must have acted as a decided stimulus to their germi- 

 nation ; whilst it is a very singular fact, that they should not 

 have been completely destroyed by it. Had I supposed it 

 probable that the seed which was boiled for 15 minutes 

 would have germinated, I should have boiled some of the 

 others still longer, in order to ascertain the extreme limit to 

 which such severe treatment might be carried without destroy- 

 ing the vital principle. 

 Cambridge, July 8. 1836. 



U Having procured, while in England, seeds of various 

 species of the Australian ^caciae, and sown them immediately 

 on my arrival at the Cape [of Good Hope], I was much dis- 

 appointed at the apparent failure of many of them, but have 

 found several of them vegetating after being three years in the 

 ground, during which period they were duly attended in weed- 

 ing and watering. Seeds, also, of Acacia longifolia, saved at 

 the Cape, and sown ten days after gathering, showed the same 

 tardiness in vegetating. This circumstance led me to con- 

 sider the best mode of treatment in trying experiments with the 

 Cape species of Acacia, and other South African Leguminosae; 

 and I find that nearly the whole of this order thrive better by 

 having water heated to 200°, or even to the boiling point of 

 Fahrenheit's thermometer, poured over them, leaving them to 

 steep, and the water to cool for twenty-four hours. Where 

 there is a numerous collection, and the quantity small of each 

 species, they may remain in the papers." — J. Bowie. Cape 

 of Good Hope, Feb. 16. 1831. {Gard. Mag., vol. viii. p. 9.) 



" Great degrees of heat, short of boiling, do not impair the 

 vegetative power of seeds ; nor do we know any degree of cold 

 that has such an effect. Those who convey seeds from distant 

 countries should be instructed to keep them dry ; for, if they 

 receive any damp sufficient to cause an attempt at vegetation, 

 they necessarily die, because the process cannot, as they are 

 situated, go on. If, therefore, they are not exposed to so 



