November, 1904. 253 



ON THE VITALITY OF SEEDS BURIED IN THE SOU.. 



BY J. ADAMS, M.A. 



There seems to be a great dearth of authentic observations on 

 the time during which seeds can retain their vitality, and the 

 following instances which came under my notice this year are, 

 therefore, deserving of being placed on record. 



As the result of drainage operations in a pasture field at 

 Antrim a considerable amount of loose soil was thrown up, 

 ard on this the following weeds made their appearance : — 

 Knotgrass, Black Bindweed, Goosefoot, Charlock, Fool's 

 Parsle\^ Scarlet Pimpernel, Sow-thistle, Groundsel. This field 

 has been under my observation for the last ten years, and has 

 been all that time grazed as pasture. I am informed by a man 

 who used to work on this farm that it is about twenty years 

 since it was last cultivated, and this, I believe to be a correct 

 estimate. 



It will be observed that all in the above list are annual weeds 

 of cultivated ground, and as they have never been observed by 

 me in the pasture during the last ten years, the obvious in- 

 ference is that the seeds must have lain dormant in the ground 

 from the time when it was last broken up— that is, for about 

 twenty years. 



Another field a short distance off was this 3^ear cropped with 

 oats. 'Ihe following weeds appeared in the crop : — Knotgrass, 

 Persicaria, Black Bindweed, Orache, Sun Spurge, Charlock, 

 Winter Cress, Gerajiiuni dissechwt, Viola tricolor, Alcheniilla 

 a7'vcnsis, Fool's Parsley, Hemp-nettle, Purple Dead-nettle, 

 Stachys pahisfris {pn^ year old), Figvvort (one 5^ear old), Scarlet 

 Pimpernel, Field Scorpion-grass, Nipplewort, Groundsel, 

 Sow-thistle. In addition to this list of annual growths, there 

 were also present in the field Ragwort, Cat's-ear, Ox-eye Daisy, 

 Self-heal, Docks, Knapweed, and many others of the usual 

 weeds of pastures. 



This field has been pastured for the last nine years, as I 

 have observed it for that time, but I have been unable to de- 

 termine how long it is since it was last ploughed up. Of the 

 list of annual growths the only one likely to have been sown 

 with the oats is Black Bindweed, as this is sometimes found 

 as an impurity, but it occurred as a weed in the first field re- 



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