SEE 



SH A 



379 



'"'■ When seeds are gathered, it 

 rshould always be done in dry wea- 

 ther ; and then they should be 

 hung up in bags in a dry room, so 

 as not to deprive them of air." — 

 Dictionary of Arts. 



" The seeds of plants exalted by 

 cultivation always furnish large 

 and improved varieties ; but the 

 flavour, and even the colour of the 

 fruit, seems to be a matter of acci 

 dent. Thus a hundred seeds of 

 the golden pippin will all produce 

 fine large-leaved apple trees, bear- 

 ing fruit of considerable size ; but 

 the tastes and colours of the apples 

 from each will be different, and 

 none will be the same in kind as 

 those of the pippin itself. Some 

 will be sweet, some sour, some 

 bitter, some mawkish, some aro- 

 matic, some yellow, some green, 

 some red, some streaked. All the 

 apples will, however, be more per- 

 fect than those from the seeds of 

 the crab, which produce trees all 

 of the same kind, and all bearing 

 sour and diminutive fruit." — Agri- 

 cultural Chemistry, 



It has been recommended when 

 seeds are intended to be sent a 

 great distance, or it is wished to 

 preserve them a long time, to wrap 

 them in absorbent paper, and sur- 

 round them by moist brown sugar. 



Mr. Humboldt has found, that 

 seeds, which do not commonly 

 germinate, become capable of ger- 

 minating when immersed in oxyge- 

 nated muriatic acid gas mixed with 

 water. If the liquid be a little warm- 

 ed, it will quicken the vegetation 

 of seeds surprisingly. Cresses thus 

 treated exhibited germs in three 

 hours. Seeds which were more than 



an hundred years old, were also 

 made to vegetate by those means. 



Old seeds may likewise be made 

 to germinate by immersing them 

 in water nearly boiling hot for 

 about half a minute, and cooling 

 them suddenly by exposure to a\r. 

 But if such seeds are sown when 

 the earth is cold, they will rot in 

 the ground. 



SEEDING, the same as sowing 

 of seed. See the article Sowing* 



SEEDLING, a root that springs 

 from seed sown. The name is appli- 

 ed also to the tender tops of plants 

 (hat have newly come from seed. 

 The little plants are thus distin- 

 guished from cuttings, layers, and 

 slips. 



SEMINATION, the manner in 

 which plants shed and disperse 

 their seeds. 



Some seeds are so heavy, that 

 they fall directly to the ground ; 

 others are furnished with a pap- 

 pus, or down, that they may, by 

 means tliereof, be dispersed by the 

 wind; and others again are con- 

 tained in elastic capsules, which, 

 bursting open with considerable 

 force, dart or throw out the seeds 

 to ditTerent distances. Some of the 

 second sort are wafted over vast 

 tracts of land, or even carried to 

 remote counlries. The weed that 

 is peculiar to burnt land, and is 

 called fire weed, has such a kind of 

 seed: It is not strange, therefore, 

 that we see it grow in burnt places, 

 many miles from where it has 

 grown before. 



SHADE, a shelter or defence 

 against the heat of the sun. Cattle 

 need not only to be sheltered 

 against cold and wet weather in 



