REPBODUCTIVE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 307 



Results of the Use of long-kept Seeds. The fact that old 



seeds yield weak plants is taken advantage of by the florist 

 in producing new varieties. It is said that while the one- 

 year-old seeds of Ten-weeks Stocks yield single flowers, 

 those which have been kept four years give mostly double 

 flowers. 



In case of melons, the experience of gardeners goes to 

 show that seeds which have been kept several, even seven 

 years, though less certain to come up, yield plants that 

 give the greatest returns of fruit ; while plantings of new 

 seeds run excessively to vines. 



Unripe Seeds, Experiments by Lucanus prove that 

 seeds gathered while still unripe, when the kernel is soft 

 and milky, or, in case of cereals, even before starch has 

 formed, and when the juice of the kernel is like water in 

 appearance, are nevertheless capable of germination, espe- 

 cially if they be allowed to dry in connection with the stem 

 (after-ripening.) Such immature seeds, however, have less 

 vigorous germinative power than those which are allowed 

 to mature perfectly ; when sown, many of them fail to 

 come up, and those which do, yield comparatively weak 

 plants at first and in poor soil give a poorer harvest than 

 well-ripened seed. In rich soil, however, the plants which 

 do appear from unripe seed, may, in time, become as vig- 

 orous as any. (Lucanus, Vs. St., IV, p. 253.) 



According to Siegert, the sowing of unripe peas tends to 

 produce earlier varieties. Liebig says : " The gardener is 

 aware that the flat and shining seeds in the pod of the 

 Stock Gillyflower will give tall plants with single flowers, 

 while the shriveled seeds will furnish low plants with 

 double flowers throughout." 



Dwarfed or Light Seeds. Dr. Mailer, as well as Hell- 

 riegel, found that light grain sprouts quicker but yields 

 weaker plants, and is not so sure of germinating as heavy 

 grain. 



