HORTICULTURE. 315 



On the Vitality of Seeds. 



A RECENT number of the Revue Horticole contains some interesting facts relative to the 

 vitality of seeds : 



In 1817, M. Serrail, in the department of the Aude, made a garden bordering on the river 

 Fresquel. The ground being sloping, he arranged it in terraces. The lowest bed, which 

 ran parallel with the river, and nearly at its level, was frequently submerged by its freshets. 

 Not knowing how to occupy the space, he sowed some persicaria, (Polygonem persicaria,) 

 and thought no more about it. 



The following year, (in 1818,) he thought he could make better use of this portion of his 

 garden by planting in it Provence reeds, (Arundo donas.) The strong-growing grass made 

 rapid development, and in less than three years formed a continual barrier, in the thickness 

 of which the river during its overflows deposited a large quantity of mud, which gradually 

 raised the level of the bed. The reeds, each year deeper buried by these deposits, followed 

 the ascent of the soil, by prolonging, little by little, their rhizome by the upper part. In the 

 month of February last, M. Serrail had this plantation destroyed ; the rhizome of the Arundo, 

 which then formed three superposed beds, the lowest being nearly reduced to mould, were 

 dug out of the soil, and the underlying earth transferred for compost to the bed immediately 

 above. What was his astonishment when, two or three months afterwards, he saw this bed, 

 as well as the excavation whence the earth had been taken, cover itself with an abundant 

 crop of persicarias ! He then recollected the seed which he had sown thirty-five years be- 

 fore, and he could not doubt but that these plants came from the seeds sown by him at thut 

 time, and which were preserved unhurt under the thick bed of mud which the reeds had 

 stopped in the way, and which had solidified in the network of their root-stocks. It is 

 doubtless to their burial in the soil at such a depth that the atmospheric influence could not 

 reach them, that the seeds owed the preservation of their germinative power during so long 

 a period of years. The result would have been very different if, in place of being covered, 

 they had been kept in an apartment, as seeds which we destine for sowing generally are ; be- 

 cause theu the alternatives of heat and cold, of dryness and humidity, and especially the 

 prolonged contact with the air, would have developed in them a fermentation incompatible 

 with their vitality. This is a fact of daily experience, and one which gardeners have but too 

 much occasion to observe ; every one knows that seeds have less chance to grow the older 

 they are ; there is, however, a marked difference in this respect in different species. 



The other observation of which we have to speak, and which is due to M. Micheli, is a new 

 proof of the rapidity with which seeds not sheltered from atmospheric influences are de- 

 prived of life. He conceived the idea of experimenting on old seeds whose age he knew 

 exactly, and of a great number of species. He made a sowing in the open ground during 

 last spring, but a very few plants came up ; these were Cynoglossum linifolium, Chrysanthe- 

 mum carinatum, Coreotsis diveraifolia, Escholgia Californica, of which the seeds were gathered 

 in 1846 ; Convolvulus tricolor, Hibiscus trionum, and Ipomcea purpurea, which were two years 

 older ; in the case of a single species, (the Malapi grandiflora,) the data went back to 1840 ; 

 that is, they were twelve years old. 



These results conform entirely to those which have been obtained in England. The British 

 Association for the Advancement of Science some years since appointed a commission to study 

 specially this interesting question of the longevity of seeds. In one of its latest sittings, it 

 received from Dr. Lankester, the chairman of this committee, the report of the twelfth ex- 

 periment on this subject. This experiment was tried with seed gathered in 1844, a part of 

 which was sown in 1850 and 1851. The result has been the rapid diminution of the number 

 of germinating seeds as they became older a result which must be expected after all that 

 we know on the subject; the question, therefore, can be considered as settled, at least in a 

 general manner. 



At this same meeting there was again mention made of those famous seeds of raspberries 

 found in a Celtic sarcophagus, which have been sown with success. In England, as in 

 France, this extraordinary fact has found many disbelievers ; but new investigations have 

 been made with much care during last year, and they have tended to confirm it. Among 



