THE MISTLETOE IN HEREFORDSHIRE. 363 
birds. The branch experimented upon should not be less than five 
feet from the ground. The seeds require to be handled with delicacy ; 
a light crush will destroy their vitality by injuring the embryo, and the 
pulp surrounding them is so very glutinous that it is difficult to place 
them right and keep them there without pressing on the seed; many 
experiments have doubtless failed from want of care in this respect. 
Some persons have used with advantage a covering of moss and bast to 
protect them and to keep them damp. An old tree in a damp situa- 
tion will render the success of the experiment still more probable. The 
best time for sowing is January or February. The young plant is 
slow in its growth, and will speud one, and sometimes two years, in 
the formation of roots only. Mistletoe can also be artificially propagated 
by grafting or budding, and with still greater certainty by inarching. 
The Continental experimentalists do not find much difficulty in making 
the seeds grow. M. Du Hamel made a series of experiments with 
regard to its mode of propagation, and succeeded on all trees but the 
Fig, the Oak, the Hazel, and the Juniper. He could always make the 
seed germinate, even on earthen pots, stones, dead pieces of wood, or 
even upon the ground, but though the radicles would shoot out freely 
at first, they quickly died, showing that it was a true parasite. M. 
Dutrochet proved by a series of delicate experiments that Mistletoes 
do not obey the usual law of plants in germinating, by directing their 
radicles towards the centre of the earth, but always towards the centre 
of any object against which they are grown. He caused Mistletoe 
seeds hanging from threads to. germinate on all sides of round balls, 
and in cases even when the ball was of metal, the radicles were directed 
towards the centre of the ball, and not towards the earth, —that is, the 
seeds beneath the ball directed their radicles upwards, those at the top 
sent them downwards, and those at the sides horizontally. 
The following observations are taken from a paper by Dr. John 
Harley, on the * Parasitism of the Mistletoe,’ read before the Linnean 
Society :— 
“The Mistletoe attaches itself to the nourishing plants, by roots, 
some of which are horizontal and confined to the bark, while the 
others are contained within the wood. Henslow, Griffith, Unger, 
Schacht, and Pitra, all agree in the following particulars :—The young 
plant first sends into the bark of the nourishing plant a single root, 
sucker, or senker, which, pressing inwards, comes ga —€— 
c 
