280 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



examination. All the fig tribe yield a kind of Gutta percha. Euphorbia cattamudus and 

 another species common in India give a gum like it. The sap of the Muddar-tree is firm 

 and white, and equal in all things to Gutta percha. The inspissated sap or juice of the cul- 

 tivated Artocarpus (bread-fruit) and the Lola-tree of Ceylon, give substitutes for Caoutchouc 

 or Gutta percha. The Gutta thoor can be made to rival Gutta percha. Asclepia gigantea of 

 the West Indies gives a sort of Gutta percha, and the tree abounds there. 



On the Germination of Seeds. 



THE following practical observations on the germination of seeds is communicated to the 

 Horticulturalist, by Thomas Meehan, of Philadelphia: 



There are probably few branches of horticulture so ill understood as the management of 

 seeds. A package of seeds may be placed in the hands of two men, divided between each, 

 and sown by each in his peculiar way ; and while one succeeds in raising plants, the other 

 fails. Sometimes the individual who succeeds in raising some particular seed one season, will 

 himself fail in another, though to all appearances the seed was gathered, preserved, and treated 

 exactly in the same manner. There is one class of seeds which preserve their vitality to irre- 

 gular periods without any extraordinary intervention. The seeds of the cucumber and melon 

 will keep fresh so long, that gardeners say the longer they are kept, the better they are ; 

 which, if true, would render them of remarkable value by " the end of the world." Never- 

 theless, they certainly will keep fresh a great many years. The turnip, the balsam, or lady- 

 slipper, and the parsley are instances of easy vitality, though of a few years less than the 

 gourd tribe ; while the onion, spinach, or lettuce will seldom germinate over one year. In 

 all these cases, their preservation is owing to their not being in a position to admit of the me- 

 chanical action of heat and moisture in preparing their integuments, or outer coverings, for 

 the chemical action of the elements conducive to germination. 



It will be sufficient here to remark that the vitality of seeds is entirely dependent on his 

 relative position of heat and moisture. Some seeds require more moisture than others to 

 tempt them to germinate ; others must be indulged with more heat than water, in comparison: 

 but every kind of seed requires its own due proportion of each. Seeds of many plants, as 

 the water-lilies, will only grow in water ; and of these, some, as the Victoria, must have an 

 accompanying degree of heat of over 70, while our yellow pond-lily will germinate at 55. 

 Other plants, as the balsam, thunbergia, globe amaranthus, &c., will readily grow in compara- 

 tively dry soil. 



An examination of the principles concerned in germination teaches us that in preserving the 

 vitality of seeds, or in accelerating their germination, a great part of our attention has to be 

 directed to their outer coverings. Seeds can not lose their vitality while these remain perfect, 

 while they will be in a condition to vegetate whenever this covering is prepared to admit 

 moisture. The different results in the experience of different parties in the time required by 

 certain seeds to grow, is entirely dependent on this. If A. preserve his seed during the winter 

 so that the husk becomes hard and bony, while B. guards his from such a contingency, the 

 latter will arrive at much more speedy results than the former. Let us take an example : the 

 sugar-maple will do. A. gathers his at the fall of the leaf, preserves it in a dry seed-room, 

 sows it in the spring, and it does not come up till twelve months afterwards. But B. gathers 

 it at the same time, puts it in the ground at once, and gets fine plants the next season ; or, he 

 gathers his seeds by the end of August, saves them in a cool room till spring, sows them, and 

 then gets plants also " right away," in either case getting ahead of his neighbor. " But where 

 is the difference ?" Simply, that B. never allows his seeds to get hard. He places them in the 

 ground to keep their shells soft ; or, to the same end, he gathers them, not before their em- 

 bryos are fully formed, but before their coats have become indurated, and adds to his precau- 

 tion by keeping them cool till sown. This is a simple experiment, which any one may test for 

 himself. 



In successfully raising seed, there is more in this gathering of them before they are what 

 is popularly called quite ripe, than one is at first disposed to admit. I was many years ago 

 struck by this, through accident. On a visit to a friend, he pointed out what he then consi- 



