162 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



would lead your committee into minute details not 

 required by their duties on this occasion, they beg 

 leave to close their communication with the follow- 

 ing suggestion to all who would cultivate grasses : 



Read attentively, and follow the practical rules 

 laid down in the best agricultural papers of the day, 

 and no intelligent farmer need be at a loss to under- 

 stand how he may most successfully cultivate his 

 lands with grasses. 



CHAPTER VII. 



PLANTS. 



The Germination of Seeds. Roots and Leaves. Extent of (he 

 Roots of Plants. 



THE GERMINATION OF SEEDS. 



SEEDS often fail to grow ; and the seedsman is of- 

 ten found fault with for vending bad seeds, when 

 they are really good, and when the cause of their 

 not growing is owing to the gardener or planter. To 

 induce germination, moisture, atmospheric air, and 

 a certain temperature are indispensable; and it is 

 also requisite that light be excluded from the seed 

 until the nutriment in it is exhausted, or until the 

 root can draw nourishment from the soil. The first 

 effect of the air, heat, and moisture upon the seed is 

 to change its properties ; to convert its starch into 

 sugar into a sort of milky pulp, the proper food of 

 the embryo plant. If at this stage the seed becomes 

 dry, its vitality is believed to be destroyed ; but if 

 the agents referred to are permitted to exert their 

 influence, the contents of the seed swell by degrees, 

 ind the point of the future root being formed, breaks 

 through the shell in a downward direction, while, 



