ON THE GROWTH AND VITALITY OF SEEDS. 



37 



Name and Date when gathered. 



No. of 

 Seeds 

 of each 

 Species 

 sown, 

 1842. 



No. of Seeds of each 

 Species which vege- 

 tated at 



Ox- Cam- Chis- 

 ford. bridge, wick. 



Time of vegetating. 

 In days at 



Ox- Cam- Chis- 

 ford. bridge, wick. 



184-1 (continued). 



Petroselinum sativum . 

 Trifolium ? repens . . . 



Lactuca sativa 



Brassica oleracea .... 



Pisum sativum 



Faba vulgaris 



Phaseolus multiflorus . 

 Triticum sestivum . . . 

 Hordeum vulgare . . . 



Avena sativa 



iEthusa cynapioides . . 

 Antirrhinum majus . . . 

 Calendula pluvialis . . . 

 Collinsia heteropbylla . 

 Datura Stramonium . . 

 Gilia achillaeefolia . . . 

 Lasthenia californica . . 

 Ligusticum Levisticum 

 Pseonia, mixed vars. . . 

 Verbascum Thapsus . . 



? 1820. 

 Gossypium sp 



50 



150 



50 



50 



50 



25 



25 



100 



100 



100 



100 



300 



100 



300 



100 



200 



200 



100 



100 



500 



36 

 18 

 5 

 17 

 37 

 25 

 24 

 82 

 94 

 90 

 10 

 13 

 98 

 125 

 43 

 21 

 50 

 30 



23 

 36 



5 

 20 

 13 

 23 

 22 



? 



90 



? 







224 

 74 



176 

 37 

 94 



113 

 28 



35 

 65 

 43 

 30 

 42 

 23 

 21 

 9S 

 71 

 90 

 12 



280 

 84 

 21 

 72 

 10 



180 

 98 



430 



17 

 6 



10 

 9 



7 

 6 

 7 



11 

 6 

 9 



13 



7 



7 



24 



19 



18 



21 



3 



3 



5 



14 



10 



14 



5 



14 



30 



18 



14 



30 



10 



14 



14 



28 



28 



At Oxford, with the exception only of those seeds which are usually sown 

 on a hotbed, the seeds here registered were sown this season (1842) on the 

 3rd of May, on a warm south border in the Botanic Garden. 



The table shows that the three species of seeds gathered in 1834 and sub- 

 jected to experiment in 1842, had entirely lost their vegetative power, as was 

 the case with the eight species of the growth of 1835, the eighteen species of 

 the growth of 1836, and also thirteen species of that of 1837, fifteen species 

 having been sown. The whole under these dates were preserved according 

 to the usual mode, viz. in stout brown paper : thus involving the necessity 

 of procuring, if possible, new seeds of those species, during the current sea- 

 son, to be subjected to future experiments for the purpose of ascertaining the 

 actual limit of their vegetative durability. 



Although the above-registered seeds are all that can in conformity with 

 the resolutions of the Committee be looked upon as constituting a portion of 

 the experiments to which this report has strict reference, it may still be well 

 to add that in the spring of 1841, having the same object in view which these 

 experiments it is hoped will determine, many seeds of old dates were sown on 

 a gentle hot-bed, principally in the Oxford Botanic Garden. 



They were, — 



I. Experimented on by Professor Daubeny, taken from Professor Morison's 

 Herbarium at the Oxford Botanic Garden, bearing date, in many instances, 



