REMARKS ON THE GERMINATION OF SEEDS. 2\)'j 



form and distinctiveness of colour ; every reasonable attention Avill be 

 amply rewarded. 



If seedlings of the first season are desired, sucli, though not 

 bloomed and proved, may be obtained cheap. 



The following eighteen varieties are offered either in plants or 

 seeds, viz., orange, orange with dark crimson centre, black, rose, 

 white, pink, red, light crimson, 'dark crimson, ilesh colour, purple, 

 sulphur, buff, variegated red and white, lilac, chocolate, slate colour, 

 and brown. 



I do trust my notice of this fine tribe will induce the readers 

 hereof, wherever practicable, to a cultivation of it in a more propor- 

 tionate manner according with its merits. As a back row- plant, ex- 

 tending along a flower border, or around a flower garden, it stands 

 unrivalled. 



ARTICLE V. 



REMARKS ON THE GERMINATION OF SEEDS. 

 Although this is the general method of raising plants, yet but little 

 is generally known of the operations of nature in that process ; I 

 therefore forward the following remarks thereon, which will be of 

 utility in raising exotic plants from seeds. 



A perfectly formed seed may be considered a young plant, the vital 

 energies of which are in a dormant or latent state, but ready to be 

 excited to action when the proper stimuli are applied ; and containing 

 a quantity of matter in a state to be easily formed into proper nutri- 

 ment, and applied to its support before it is able to provide for itself. 



Seeds possess a great cprantity of carbon. This substance, by its 

 anti-putrescent qualities and hardness, prevents the seeds from under- 

 going putrefaction, and thus preserves them for a great length of time. 

 All that is necessary for preserving seeds, is to prevent germination 

 and putrefaction ; for this purpose they must be carefully excluded 

 from the action of heat and moisture, and other chemical agents. 

 Seeds retain their vitality for a very long period — for hundreds, or 

 even thousands of years. Seeds which have been proved to have 

 been not less than one thousand eight hundred years old have germi- 

 nated and produced thriving plants ; and plants have appeared, on 

 turning up the ground in some situations, the seeds of which are 

 conjectured to have been buried a much longer period. 



