SEED. 



SENSITIVE PLANT. 



spikes being without seeds). This is a very 

 extensive genus, the species of which are un- 

 interesting; part of them are natives of marshy 

 situations, while a few thrive on dry, sandy 

 eminences ; they seed freely, by which they are 

 increased. The roots are, perhaps without ex- 

 ception, perennial, mostly creeping; sometimes 

 fibrous and tufted only; herbage grassy; stem 

 simple, generally with jhin, finely serrated, and 

 sharply-cutting angles, without knots or joints. 

 Leaves linear, pointed, flat, roughish, with 

 similarly cutting edges; their bases more or 

 less tubular and sheathing, membranous at the 

 summit, often auricled, the upper ones becom- 

 ing bractes. Sir J. E. Smith enumerates and 

 describes no less than 62 species of Carices in- 

 digenous to Great Britain. There are a great 

 many species of sedge foutfd in the United States. 



SEED is the reproductive part of a plant, 

 resulting from a change effected in the ovules 

 by the process of impregnation: it contains the 

 embryo or rudiment of a future plant. 



For the preservation of the seed from insects 

 and decomposition, and for food for the em- 

 bryo, seeds contain fecula, saccharine, oily, 

 and gummy matter within their coverings, and 

 sometimes acrid, poisonous principles. In 

 their coverings they also contain mucilage, 

 oil, both fixed and volatile, and other principles 



which man makes subservient to his use, either 

 as diet or condiments, or Air other purposes. 

 Seed is a form of reproductive matter peculiar 

 to flowering plants, its equivalent in flowerless 

 plants being the sporuli. It is commonly and 

 very justly remarked, tha', as the seed is the 

 part intended by nature to multiply the races 

 of plants, in this respect it resembles the egg, 

 and, like it, long retains its vitality. 



The choice of the seed intended to be sown 

 is an object of greater importance than many 

 farmers seem to imagine. It is not sufficient 

 that the finest grain be chosen for this purpose, 

 unless it be likewise clean from weeds. In 

 procuring seed, it should be a rule with the 

 farmer to purchase or reserve such as is the 

 most full, plump, sound, and healthy, whatever 

 the kind may be, as it is perhaps only in this 

 way that crops of good corn can be insured; 

 And this practice is still more obvious from 

 the circumstance of its being in some measure 

 the same with plants as with animals, that the 

 produce is in a degree similar to that from 

 which it originated. See BAULKY, GHASSES, 

 OATS, TKMPERATURF., WHEAT, &c. 



The usual quantity of seed applied per acre 

 for the ordinary crops of the English farmer, 

 when either broadcast, drilled, or dibbled, is as 

 follows : 



The quantities here given are those common ! 

 throughout the island. But from the general 

 custom in Flanders, and from the extensive 

 practice which I have witnessed on the farms 

 of Mr. Hewitt Davis and other excellent far- 

 mers, I am inclined to think that these quanti- 

 ties may be considerably reduced. As in most 

 cases it is usual to have on the land many 

 more seedling plants than the soil can properly 

 mature, thinner sowing has the effect of pro- 

 ducing stronger, healthier, and more prolific 

 heads ; and I am still inclined to this opinion 

 in favour of thinner sowing, notwithstanding I 

 am aware that such excellent agriculturists 

 as Lords Leicester and Western practise, and 

 strongly recommend, thick sowing. 



As to the season for sowing, only general 

 directions can be given. It is a highly impor- 

 tant subject, much too little attended to in ge- 

 neral. In the north of England they are fre- 

 quently sowing weeks earlier than in the 

 south. 



SEED-LIP. A sort of basket in which the 

 sower carries the seed he is about to scatter 

 over the ground. 

 984 



SEEL. A term provincially applied in Eng- 

 land to time or season in respect to crops, as 

 hay-seel, or hay-time, and barley-seel, or bar- 

 ley-seed time, Bark-seel, barking-season, &c. 

 It is sometimes written seal. 



SENNA, WILD (Cassia Marylandica). This 

 plant, which is abundant in the Middle States, 

 is quite ornamental, and often introduced into 

 gardens. It has a perennial root and erect 

 stem, growing to the height of 3 or 4 feet, and 

 branching. The leaves resemble those of the 

 imported senna (also a species of cassia), for 

 which they are a good substitute, the medical 

 properties being nearly similar. Its flowers 

 are yellow and ii> clusters, followed by a seed- 

 pod or legume 3 or 4 inches long. 



SENSITIVE PLANT, WILD, commonly 

 called TwinklingCassia (Cassia mr/i/ans). This 

 plant is found in the Middle States, on road- 

 sides, &c. Its root is annual, and the stem 

 grows 6 to 12 inches long, mostly oblique, 

 slender, branching, and roughish-hairy. It pro- 

 duces yellow flowers in August, succeeded by 

 seed-pods an inch to an inch and a half long, 

 and two or three lines wide. 



