THE WIDE DISTRIBUTION OF PLANT-GERMS. 39 



previously unknown in the vicinity, at once spring up, almost 

 as if spontaneous generation had taken place." 



The wonderful vitality of certain seeds is thus 

 referred to by Lindley in his " Botany," * on page 

 358: 



" The action of seeds is confined to that phenomenon which 

 occurs when the embryo which the seed contains is first called 

 into life, and which is named germination. 



" If seeds are sown as soon as they are gathered, they gener- 

 ally vegetate, at the latest, in the ensuing spring ; but, if they 

 are dried first, it often happens that they will lie a whole year 

 or more in the ground without altering. This character varies 

 extremely in diiferent species. The power of preserving their 

 vitality is also variable : some will retain their germinating 

 powers many years, in any latitude, and under almost any 

 circumstances. Melon-seeds have been known to grow when 

 forty-one years old, maize thirty years, rye forty years, the 

 sensitive plant sixty years, kidney-beans one hundred years. 

 Clover will come up from soil newly brought to the surface of 

 the earth, in places in which no clover had been previously 

 known to grow in the memory of man, and I have at this mo- 

 ment three plants of raspberries before me, which have been 

 raised in the garden of the Horticultural Society from seeds 

 taken from the stomach of a man whose skeleton was found 



* " An Introduction to Botany," by John Lindley, Ph.D. 

 London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans. 

 Third Edition, 1839. Pp. 594. 



