372 



Germination of Seeds. 



Vol. VI. 



of it with oxygen, so as to form carbonic 

 acid ; and tliis process is favoured by darkness, 

 because light has a tendency to produce the 

 contrary change, namely, the fixation of the 

 carbon within the structure. And it is inte- 

 resting to observe how all these conditions 

 are supplied in the ordinary course of nature 

 by the soil in which the seeds are dropped. 

 If these be sown during the spring or sum- 

 mer, they speedily begin to germinate; but 

 if they are deposited in the autumn, they re- 

 main almost unchanged until the winter has 

 passed and the returning warmth of the air 

 and earth arouses them into activity. It is 

 seldom that the soil is so completely destitute 

 of moisture for any long time together as not 

 to be able to excite seeds to germinate, but 

 their sprouting is well known to be favoured 

 by damp weather ; and if seeds through being 

 put into the ground during a drought remain 

 undeveloped, they are brought forward very 

 rapidly by a genial shower; and a porous soil 

 is to be preferred on account of the free ad- 

 mission of air which it gives to germinating 

 seed, as well as for the other processes of 

 vegetation, while a stiff clay soil prevents 

 this necessary contact, and thus impedes ger- 

 mination. So complete a check, indeed, may 

 thus be produced that it has been proposed to 

 bury seeds in clay rammed hard, when it is 

 desired to convey them from one part of the 

 world to another through very hot climates, 

 the high temperature of which might destroy 

 their vitality if its influence were not pre- 

 vented by the bad-conducting power of the 

 mass in which they are thus enclosed ; for if 

 seeds are buried very deep even in a light 

 soil, the contact of oxygen will be sufiicient- 

 ly impeded to prevent their germination ; and 

 the bringing such seeds nearer the surface 

 will then have as much influence in causing 

 them to sprout, as the supply of either of the 

 agents just mentioned, which might have 

 been previously deficient. 



The seeds of most plants are endowed with 

 a remarkable power of preserving their vitali- 

 ty for an almost unlimited time, if they are 

 placed in circumstances which neither call 

 their properties into active exercise, nor oc- 

 casion the decay of their structure; the con- 

 ditions being a low temperature, dryness of 

 the surrounding medium, and the absence of 

 oxygen; and if all these are supplied, there 

 seems no limit to the period during whicii 

 seeds may retain their vitality. And even 

 if moisture or oxygen be not entirely ex- 

 cluded, the same etfect may result, provided 

 that the temperature be low and uniform. 

 Thus, the seeds of most plants may be kept 

 for several years freely expo:<ed to the air, 

 provided they are not exposed to dampness, 

 which will either cause them to germinate 

 or to decay. 



Instances are frequent, in which ground 

 that has been turned up, spontaneously pro- 

 duced plants different from any in the neigh- 

 bourhood. The following circumstance which 

 occurred about thirty years ago in the state 

 of Maine, is very remarkable: some well- 

 diggers while sinking a well at the distance 

 of about forty miles from the sea, struck, at 

 the depth of twenty feet, a layer of sand, no- 

 thing similar being to be found in the neigh- 

 bourhood, or anywhere nearer than the sea- 

 beach. As it was drawn up from the well, 

 it was placed in a heap by itself, and was at 

 last spread abroad around the spot on which 

 it had been heaped, and was for some time 

 scarcely remembered ; in a year or two how- 

 ever, it was perceived that a great number 

 of small trees had sprung up from the ground 

 over which the sand had been strovvn, and 

 these trees were at length ascertained to be 

 the beach-plum ; and they actually bore the 

 beach plum, which had never before been 

 seen, except immediately upon the sea-shore. 

 These trees must therefore have sprung from 

 seed which had existed in the stratum of sea- 

 sand pierced by the well-diggers, and on ex- 

 posure to the air they vegetated. But how 

 long they had remained inactive beneath the 

 surface of the earth it would be quite impos- 

 sible to conjecture. It is said that some 

 grains of wheat which were found in the 

 window of a house in Herculaneum, vege- 

 tated when placed in the earth, after being 

 buried about 2000 years. And the grains of 

 wheat and other seeds enclosed in the band- 

 ages that envelope mummies are said to have 

 germinated ; and there is nothing improbable 

 in the fact ; but as the Arabs, from whom the 

 mummies are commonly obtained, are in the 

 habit of previously unrolling them in search 

 of coins &c., it is not always certain that the 

 seeds which have sprouted were really at 

 first enclosed with the mummies. But per- 

 haps the most remarkable instance on record, 

 as presenting most satisfactory proof of the 

 lapse of at least IGOO or 1700 years, is one 

 related by Dr. Lindley, " I have now before 

 me," he says, " three plants of Raspberries 

 which have been raised in the gardens of the 

 Horticultural society from seeds taken from 

 the stomach of a man, whose skeleton was 

 found thirty feet below tlie surface of the 

 earth, at the bottom of a Barrow or Tumulus, 

 which was opened near Dorchester, England ; 

 he had been buried with some coins of the 

 emperor Hadrian !" These barrows or tumuli 

 are large mounds of earth evidently artifi- 

 cial, for, where dug into, they are found to 

 contain human remains, with pottery, wea- 

 pons, &.C., and as they are generally found 

 together, they appear to have been erected 

 on fields of battle, to contain the bodies of 

 the slain." 



