NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



255 



its normal condition of semi-fertility, but with the 

 application of a far smaller amount of manure, 

 continues to produce affluently all such crops as 

 are adapted to it in its improved and modified char- 

 acter. The amount of clay requisite to effect a 

 complete and radical amelioration, is a matter to 

 he decided only by observation and experiment. 

 Various rules have been laid down and numerous 

 theories elahorated with a view to illustrate this 

 important point ; yet the true touch-stone is, in 

 the case of the practical operator — Experiment. 

 The old adage, "Circumstances alter cases," ap- 

 plies here with peculiar force, for no two fields are 

 exactly alike, or require precisely the same treat- 

 ment to render them productive. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 DURATION OF VITALITY OP SEEDS. 



BY W. J. A. B. 



When I first put my hand to the plow, and be- 

 gan to exercise that most noble of all arts, tilling 

 the ground, I had many instructions and monitions 

 of wisdom from my kind neighbors, the farmers. 

 I then found that in the country, kindness was 

 quite as common as in the town. For I was im- 

 mediately loaded down with as much as I could 

 carry, in the shape of advice ; and that in a form 

 which was intended to leave nothing to my own 

 indiscretion, being given as the result of experi- 

 ence which no one unless he were fool-hardy 

 would disregard, and neglecting which he could 

 reap only disaster and ruin . The benevolent coun- 

 sels were bestowed as freely and with the same 

 force of authority by the lad who on the same day 

 had plowed his first acre, as by the sturdy yeo- 

 man who had sowed and reaped under sixty suns. 

 One of my early lessons in the art was that I must 

 take care to procure seed of the last harvest ; — and 

 that if I should sow that which was two years old, 

 I should "have my labor for my gains." I soon 

 found, however, that this was an error, — and that 

 some other opinions and practices of the best far- 

 mers were either offsprings of the same family, and 

 born of error, — or were only distant and collater- 

 al offsets of the tree of truth, enfeebled and dis- 

 eased by contact with, or the overshadowing influ- 

 ence of error. Having obtained some seeds of 

 tomatoes which I had not opportunity to commit 

 to the earth the first season, they were placed in 

 my trunk and there remained lour years. At the 

 end of this time, wishing to raise some of that very 

 wholesome and agreeable vegetable, I planted my 

 old seeds, which came up without failure of a 

 hill, and yielded a most abundant and excellent 

 crop. 



But, gentlemen, as I have reason to think that 

 a great many farmers are yet led astray by the old 

 opinion which has been so current with them in 

 relation to this matter, I desire to communi- 

 cate to them, through your columns, other instan- 

 ces beside those in my own experience, which 

 show the opinion to be erroneous. 



Dr. Lindley, the eminent botanist and author, 

 says, "I have now before me three raspberry plants 

 which have been raised in the gardens of the 

 Horticultural Society, from seeds taken from the 

 stomach of a man whose skeleton was found 30 



feet below the surface of the earth, at the bottom 

 of a barrow which was opened near Dorchester. 

 He had been buried with some coins of the Emper- 

 or Hadrian." It is supposed the body had lain 

 in that place 1G00 or 1700 years. 



Near Stirling, in Scotland, the workmen en- 

 gaged in laying bare the clay soil, underlying 14 

 feet of peat bog, for cultivation, threw out some 

 clay in which the parish clergyman who was look- 

 ing on espied some seeds. He took them and 

 planted them, and they produced a species of chrys- 

 anthemum. 



Some years ago, some well-diggers in Maine 

 struck, at 20 feet below the surface, and a distance 

 of 40 miles from the sea, a layer of sand, which 

 excited curiosity, as none similar, so far as known, 

 existed nearer tban the sea-beach. It was scat- 

 tered about the spot, and in a year or two the 

 ground was overgrown with young beach plums, 

 which had never been seen before except on the 

 beach. 



The seeds of the beach plums and chrysanthe- 

 mum must have lain buried for ages. The dura- 

 tion of vitality in seeds seems to be unlimited, or 

 nearly so, provided they are in conditions which 

 neither call their properties into exercise nor occa- 

 sion their decay. These conditions favorable to 

 the preservation of seeds are a low temperature, 

 dryness, and exclusion from the influence of oxy- 

 gen. Seeds may be kept many years without in- 

 jury, if moisture and oxygen be not entirely ex- 

 cluded, if the temperature be low and uniform, 

 and the moisture slight, so as not to cause them to 

 decay. Seeds preserved in the herbarium of Tourn- 

 efort, a French naturalist, were found to retain 

 their fertility after the lapse of nearly a century. 



These instances, except the one coming under 

 my own knowledge, :.:e related from the most au- 

 thentic sources. I find them in a recent very val- 

 uable and reliable treatise on Vegetable Physiolo- 

 gy, printed at Philadelphia. 



There is no doubt that seeds may be placed in 

 such circumstances as to destroy their vitality in 

 two or three years ; but my purpose is twofold ; 

 — first to show the causes of this deterioration, so 

 that farmers and others may be enabled to pre- 

 serve their seeds for more than one year ; — and 

 second, to disabuse them of the erroneous opinion 

 which they have so long held in relation to this 

 matter. 13y packing them in papers or vessels so 

 that the air may not come to them, and placing 

 them in a cool and dry place, they may keep them 

 a lifetime without loss of their fertilizing property. 



Sale of Improved Stock. — The third annual sale, 

 by auction, of Mr. Morris' improved breeds of 

 domestic animals, will take place at Mount Ford- 

 ham, Westchester Co., 11 miles from New York 

 City, on Wednesday, June 9, 1852. The particu- 

 lars of this sale are in another column, to which 

 we refer the reader. Mr. Morris' knowledge of 

 what good stock is, together with his character 

 for fair and honorable dealing, render this sale un- 

 usually attractive to those wishing to purchase. 



SnEEP. — We learn through the Vermont State 

 Journal that S. M. Jewett, Esq., whose communi- 

 cations have frequently appeared in the Farmer 



