538 The effects of Light on the Germination of Seeds. 



day was drawing to a close, prohibiting more than a glance. 

 Agarici, white, red, brown, yellow, violet and purple, abounded, 

 and smaller kinds beside. Happy would have been the 

 mycologist who could have culled them ! But we left them 

 in their glory ; and would you know more of them, or of 

 the rich treasures of the forests of the vicinity of the Notch, 

 you have only to trace the steps of the lamented Oakes, or 

 study the researches of our Tuckerman, or make as pleasant 

 an acquaintance as I did, with Dr. S. A. Bemis, of Boston, to 

 to whom every dell and stream of the White Mountains are 

 familiar. 



Hingham, November 1, 1852. 



Art. III. The effects of Light on the Germination of Seeds, 

 S^c, ivhen passed through media of various colors. By 

 R. B. L. 



(Concluded from page 445.^ 



Numerous experiments have been tried with the seeds of 

 mignonette, many varieties of the flowering pea, the com- 

 mon parsley, and cresses : with all of these the results have 

 been similar to those already described. The seeds have 

 generally germinated the most rapidly under the red glass, in 

 the spring of the year ; but when the heat of summer has 

 advanced, the temperature of the red light has been too 

 great, and germination has been prevented. Except under 

 the blue glass, these plants have all been marked by the ex- 

 traordinary length to which the stems of the cotyledons have 

 grown, and by the entire absence of the plumula. No true 

 leaves forming, the cotyledons soon perish, and the plant dies. 

 Under the green glass, the process of germination has been 

 exceedingly slow, and the plants, particularly the cresses and 

 mignonette, have speedily perished. 



Under the blue glass alone has the process of germination 

 and maturation gone on healthful to the end ; and although I 

 have found a few instances of a perfect plant under the 



