496 ROMAN OATS ON ENGLISH FARMS. [April, 



He has sown the seed, and intends to exhibit a collection of them 

 at the next show of the Alnwick Horticultural Society. The 

 place, as it has been conjectured, has been a cavalry camp, and 

 the oats, which were perhaps ripened under other skies, after 

 lying covered with the debris of the camps for probably fifteen 

 hundred years, will again shoot into cereal beauty, and may add 

 one or more permanent varieties to the stock of the English 

 farmer. 



Mr. Binks has kindly furnished additional particulars in a let- 

 ter, a portion of which is subjoined. If the varieties, or indeed 

 any one of the varieties of the oats now growing under the super- 

 intendence of Mr. Binks, differ from the varieties in cultivation 

 in Great Britain, it will be strong presumptive evidence, and 

 evidence of a most important character, in support of the opinion 

 of those who assert that the seeds of the cultivated cereals re- 

 tain their vitality for very long periods, when the seeds are placed 

 in conditions favourable to their preservation. Whether the en- 

 campment was formed during the Roman occupation of the 

 country or not, is for antiquarians to determine. If the camp 

 was formed during the period of any of the invading inroads which 

 have taken place in England — Roman, Scandinavian, or Saxon, — 

 the fact may be established that, since the period the camp was 

 occupied, the grains of the oat buried in the soil have retained 

 their vitality unimpaired. It is well known that the seed of the 

 wild oat retains its germinating powers for centuries, but there 

 is no instance of the seeds of the cultivated varieties of the oat 

 germinating after a few years. 



It is worthy of notice that Mr. Binks can speak to the state of 

 the camp ground for the very long period of sixty-three years ; 

 and he writes that it has been covered with whins during that 

 period. 



"Pepper Moor, May 5, 1861. 



" Sir, — The land the oats grew upon is an ancient encampment, 

 enclosed with a mound. The space sown with barley was two 

 acres. I have been on the farm sixty-three years, and I never 

 saw anything on the land but whins. The oats were never sown 

 by me. There were many sorts in the field which neither my- 

 self nor any who inspected them ever saw the like of before. 



" It is not in my power to send you any samples at this time, 

 as both my friends and myself were anxious to preserve every 



