SEED. 



spikes being without seeds). This is a very 

 extensive genus, the species of which are un- 

 ung; part of them are natives of marshy 

 situation*, while a few thrive on dry, sandy 

 they seed freely, by which they are 

 >t-d. The roots are, perhaps without ex- 

 crpiu.n, perennial, mostly creeping; sometimes 

 I only; herbage grassy; stem 

 rally with thin, finely serrated, and 

 sharpl) -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 aurirl.-d. ilu- upper ones becom- 

 ing bractes. Sir J. E. Smith enumerates and 

 describes no less than 62 species of Carices in- 

 (Jreat Britain. There are a great 

 N of sedge found in the United States, 

 .he reproductive part of a plant, 

 m a change effected in the ovules 

 by the process of impregnation: it contains the 



rudiment of a future plant. 

 >e 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 

 icrid, poisonous principles. In 

 their coverings they also contain mucilage, 

 oil, both fixed and volatile, and other principles 



SENSITIVE PLANT. 



which man makes subservient to his use, either 

 as diet or condiments, or for 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, that, 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 BARLEY, GRASSES, 

 OATS, TEMPERATURE, 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 SEEL. A term provincially applied in Eng- 

 throughoui the island. But from the general j land to time or season in respect to crops, as 

 custom in Flanders, and from the extensive ; hay-seel, or hay-time, and barley-seel, or bar- 

 practice which I have witnessed on the farms j ley-seed time, bark-seel, barking-season, &c. 



Hewitt Davis and other excellent far- J It is sometimes written seal. 



mers, 1 am inclined to think that these quanti- SENNA, WILD (Cassia Marylandica). This 

 ues may be considerably reduced. As in most j plant, which is abundant in the Middle States, 

 cases it is usual to have on the land many is quite ornamental, and often introduced into 

 more seedling plants than the soil can properly ! gardens. It has a perennial root and erect 

 mature, thinner sowing has the effect of pro- stem, growing to the height of 3 or 4 feet, and 

 :ing stronger, healthier, and more prolific branching. The leaves resemble those of the 

 peads; and I am still inclined to this opinion imported senna (also a species of cassia), for 

 in favour of thinner sowing, notwithstanding I which they are a good substitute, the medical 

 am aware that such excellent agriculturists i properties being nearly similar. Its flowers 

 as Lords Leicester and Western practise, and 



strong!) recommend, thick sowing. 



1 the season for sowing, only general 

 directions can be given. It is a highly impor- 



are yellow and in clusters, followed by a seed- 



pod or legume 3 or 4 inches long. 



SENSITIVE PLANT, WILD, commonly 

 _ E called TwinklingCassia (Cassia nici items). This 



tani subject, much too little attended to in ge- 1 plant is found in the Middle States, on road- 

 In the north of England they are fre- sides, &c. Its root is annual, and the stem 

 ally sowing weeks earlier than in the grows 6 to 12 inches long, mostly oblique, 



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



bLD-LIP. A sort of "Basket in which the duces yellow flowers in August, succeeded by 

 er carries the seed h is about to sca.ter seed-pods an inch to an inch and a half long, 

 >T*T the ground. and two or three lines wide. 



