66 SEED. 



they must have borne the heat of cooking for a 

 length of time. This plant, as is well known, 

 is a native of the colder parts of this continent ; 

 the integuments or coverings of the seed must 

 therefore have been formed with wonderful 

 powers of protection against extremes of heat, 

 cold, and age. 



Pine seeds and many others vegetate very 

 rapidly in lime just slacked. This action produ- 

 ces warmth, and the lime immediately attracts 

 the excess of carbonic acid from the seed, this, 

 as before observed, being one of the chief con- 

 ditions of vegetating. 



The business of saving seed for gardens as 

 a trade, is quite new in this country, and many 

 hundred dollars are annually expended in im- 

 porting seeds from Europe. The vitality of 

 some is injured by the voyage. 



It will be seen by the foregoing information 

 that it would be useless to compete with Euro- 

 pean seedsmen, unless this branch were follow- 

 ed as a business, so much attention, so many 

 precautions are requisite to procure true, full, 

 and plump seeds of vegetables or flowers. But 

 it is equally certain if this attention were paid so 

 as to ensure an infallible character after proper 

 trials to the seisds grown, that the alpine purity 



