Stkuctuee and Growth. 15 



moisture, etc. Under favorable circumstances, wheat, rye, 

 oats, and millet will germinate in one day ; bean, turnip, radish, 

 and mustard in three days ; lettuce in four days ; melon, cucum- 

 ber, squash, and pumpkin in five days ; barley in seven ; cabbage 

 in ten ; parsley in fifteen ; almond, peach, and peony in one 

 year, and hawthorn in two years. 



The time that seeds will retain their vitality also difiers in 

 different species, but in all cases depends partly upon the degree 

 in which they are excluded from the action of moisture and 

 light. Kidney-beans, peas, and carrot, parsnep, and rhubarb 

 seeds are generally considered as losing their vitality at the end 

 of one year, but will sometimes germinate after being kept 

 much longer. 



These facts have important bearings upon the subject of 

 horticulture, and should be constantly borne in mind ; and 

 especially is it requisite that the essential conditions of germi- 

 nation be held in remembrance. A failure to germinate is 

 doubtless often attributed to bad seeds, when the fault is en- 

 tirely in the planting. It must be perfectly evident that if your 

 seeds are insufiiciently covered in a light, dry soil, they will 

 lack the first essential of germination, and will be liable to 

 wither and perish for want of moisture. This is why light 

 soils should be pressed together and upon the seed in planting, 

 either by means of a roller or otherwise. Seeds buried too 

 deeply, or covered with a heavy, dense soil, pressed too closely 

 upon them, fail to germinate for want of communication with 

 the atmosphere. If there be not sufficient warmth in the soil 

 at the time of planting, and it remain cold for a considerable 

 time thereafter, the seeds just as surely perish. Eemember the 

 conditions of germination — moisture, warmth, and oxygen gas 

 (or air containing oxygen). 



Germination being established by the action of moisture and 

 warmth, and maintained by the oxygen of the atmosphere, all 

 parts of the embryo enlarge, and new parts are formed at the 

 expense of a saccharine or sugary secretion, which the germinat- 

 ing seed possesses the power of forming. With the assistance 



