144 PRELIMINARY MANIPULATION OP SEEDS. 



and Chebula, Pliyllantlius Emblica, Gmelina arborea, Prosopis spi- 

 cigera, fyc. 



(b). SEEDS INCULDED IN A CAPSULE OR POD, OR BETWEEN 

 SCALES. The quickest plan to adopt, when it is practicable, is the 

 application of heat, under the action of which the valves of the cap- 

 sules or pods and the scales of the cones open out or disarticulate, 

 thus setting free the enclosed seeds. In many cases simple exposure 

 to the sun suffices ; in others, however, a higher and more sus- 

 tained temperature is required, and then special drying-houses are 

 necessary, in which the fruit to he treated is exposed to the direct 

 action of air heated by steam pipes or by passage over an open 

 fire, and kept at the required temperature with the aid of thermo- 

 meters. The coverings and scales are separated from the seed by 

 raking or riddling or winnowing, according to circumstances. But 

 the application of heat does not suffice for, or may altogether fail 

 with, the fruit of many species, such as sissu, Hardivickia, babul, 

 khair, &c. In that case, if the seed is tough enough, threshing in 

 sacs or in the open, or treading with bullocks on a well-beaten 

 level floor in the manner of the Indian agriculturist, will give good 

 results. Some seeds, however, principally those of some legumin- 

 ous plants, may not stand such rough treatment, viz., Hardwickia 

 binata, sissu, &c., and, in the very rare event of the separation of such 

 seeds from their covering being deemed indispensable, the only way 

 to free them, as far as we know, would be to manipulate each fruit 

 individually with the hand. 



(c). SEEDS WITH WINGS OR HAIRY APPENDAGES. The wholesale 

 removal of these appendages, except one by one with the hand, is 

 not always possible without injury to the germinative power of the 

 seeds ; but whenever practicable, it should be effected. If the seed 

 is hard or tough, friction or?gentle threshing suffices to detach the 

 appendages in question. When this is the case, a very expeditious 

 method would be to loosely fill up large stout sacs with the seed, 

 and to thresh these or work them violently backwards and forwards, 

 according to the toughness of the seeds, until the appendages are 

 detached, when they could be easily separated by the ordinary pro- 

 cess of winnowing. Treading with cattle may sometimes be found 

 efficacious. Threshing is necessary for seeds of Terminalia tomen- 

 tosa and Arjuna, Pterocarpus Marsitpium, &c. Treading with 

 cattle or friction in sacs will succeed perfectly with teak, &c. With 

 brittle or otherwise delicate seeds the following process may often 

 be employed with good results : They should be spread out and 

 pprinkled over lightly with water from a pot with a fine rose, and 



