SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 



325 



For purposes of reference and general: convenience, I present the following 

 analysis of the contents of the Portfolio : 



A — Pomology. 



1. Scientific and experimental. 



2. The nursery. 



3. The orchard. 



4. Apples. 



5. Pears. 



6. Peaches. 



7. Grapes. 



8. Berries. 



9. Planting and transplanting. 



10. Pruning. 



11. Fertilizers. 



12. Storing, marketing and preserving. 



13. Birds and moles. 



14. Insects and diseases. 



B — Floriculture. 



1. Flowers and their culture. 



2. Plants in the house. 



3. Plant fertilizers. 



C — Landscape Gardening and Ar- 

 boriculture. 



1. Landscape gardening. 



2. Ornamental planting. 



3. Ornamenting school grounds. 



4. Forestry. 



5. Evergreens. 

 D — The Garden. 



1. Farmers' gardens. 



2. Special vegetables. 

 E — Miscellaneous. 



Secretary. 



SCIENTIFIC AND EXPERIMENTAL. 



NO SECRETS. 



There are no secrets in horticulture ; the laws that govern the germination of 

 a seed, the rooting of a cutting, or the taking of a bud or graft, are the same 

 as they were a thousand years ago, and any one pretending to have any secret 

 knowledge in the matter is either an ignoramus or an impostor. — Peter 

 Henderson. 



HOW LONG WILL SEEDS LIVE. 



Darwin and others have made experiments on seeds by immersing them in 

 salt water. Out of 8? kinds 64 germinated after being in salt water for 28 

 days, and a few after an immersion of 13? days. Instances are on record too, 

 of seeds of American plants, which have been washed on the shores of West- 

 ern Europe, germinating after their long voyage across the Atlantic. Radish 

 seed has been known to grow freely when 17 years old, and it is also recorded 

 that kidney beans 100 years old, and rye 140 years old have germinated. So 

 far as experience goes, prolonged vitality seems to depend on the nature of the 

 pericarp, testa, or albumen, though there are some inexplicable exceptions. 

 Thus, carrot will keep good four years, whereas angelica and parsnip (members 

 of the same family), having more oily seeds, will only grow the first and sec- 

 ond spring respectively after they are collected. The seeds of Australian aca- 

 cias, which have a very hard dense testa, are long-lived, but the kidney bean, 

 which belongs to the same family, rarely grows after the third season. Some 

 seeds, for different reasons, are preferred two or three or more years old to 

 quite fresh ones ; in some instances because the older seed germinates more 



