1861.] VITALITY OP SEEDS. 75 



There is a peculiar and distinct grou]) of our native plants^ the 

 most charming which shun the company of the arable weeds^ 

 .they are biennials ; they conspicuously present themselves to our 

 notice and admiration by waysides, woods, wastes, hedges, ditches, 

 borders of fields, and homesteads ; those are the most of note : 

 Digitalis purpurea, Verbascum Thapsus, F. Lychnitis, V. Blatta- 

 ria, V. virgatum, Cynoglossum officinale, Reseda Luteola, Hyoscya- 

 mus niger, Echium vulgare, Dipsacus sylvestris, I), pilosus, Car- 

 duus nuta?is, Onopordon Acanthium ; they all produce abundance 

 of seeds that lie dormant to spring opportunely to beautify the 

 face of nature. The Foxglove, Henbane, the great Mullein, I 

 have reason to believe, have sprung up from seed where there had 

 been no disturbance of the earth's surface for between forty and 

 fifty years. 



I have not been aware that the seeds of any species of the 

 Order GramineiS possess the vitaline properties with those other 

 plants enumerated ; nor is it necessary, as they were designed as 

 a perpetual and permanent vestment of green to clothe the mead, 

 the mountain, and the moor, till Flora presents a robe adorned 

 with gems of every hue. 



As the seeds of the Grasses do not possess this vitality, the 

 mummy wheat fallacy must be exploded, and considered as a 

 hoax upon the credulity of mankind. 



I suggest that our botanic gardens would be most eligible 

 places for experiments on the vitality of seeds, etc. ; it would af- 

 ford valuable instruction as regards this obscure subject. 



Beivdley, February 1st, 1861. 



ACCOUNT OF A EEMAEKABLE PEAK-TEEE AT HOLME 

 LACY, NEAR HEREFORD. 



Our readers will be pleased to peruse the following account of 

 this celebrated vegetable curiosity, which proves that there are 

 wonders in our own land almost as marvellous as the productions 

 of distant and tropical countries. This example of one of the 

 Hereford Pear-trees shows that the tendency to self-propaga- 

 tion is not confined to the famous Fig-tree of Hindostan, the cele- 

 brated Banyan. 



