OF SEEDS. 143 



thus moistened, they should be collected into large heaps. As soon 

 as a gentle heat is felt on inserting the hand into a heap, the seeds 

 should be spread out to dry. When they are again dry, the ap- 

 pendages will be found to have disarticulated of themselves. 



(d). SEEDS TOO MOIST TO BE STORED UP AT ONCE. The seeds 

 of many species have, in order to anticipate their natural dissemina- 

 tion and complete dispersion, to be plucked from the parent tree 

 before they are quite dry. Other kinds of seed again contain a 

 great deal of moisture even when they fall off naturally. Such 

 seeds should be spread out, not more than from 2 to 3 inches high, 

 in a dry, airy, sunny place, and turned over with a rake twice or 

 thrice daily for a period varying with the kind of seed and the dry- 

 ness and temperature of the weather. After this they should be 

 piled up higher, the raking being continued as before, but being 

 limited to only once a day. This latter process should go on until 

 the seeds are sufficiently dry to be stored or packed up. Experience 

 alone can tell when this is the case. It is needless to say that in 

 the cold weather the seeds should be removed under shelter during 

 the hours of dew. As regards seeds that are moist even when they 

 are shed naturally, this drying is really the completion of the ripen- 

 ing process, for such seeds germinate more promptly when they have 

 been thus dried than if sown as soon as they fall off from the parent 

 tree. 



(e). SEEDS THAT REQUIRE A FURTHER PROCESS or RIPENING 



AFTER FALLING OFF FROM THE PARENT TREE. Among agricultural 



crops our gram is a well-known instance of such seeds : it will 

 germinate freely only several months after it has been harvested. 

 Instances of forest seeds, already given higher up, are those of teak 

 in Central India and Bombay, of Terminalia tomentosa and Arjuna, 

 of Pterocarpus Marsupium, babul, ash, &c. Drying increases the 

 germinative faculty of each one of these species, especially the power 

 of swelling up enjoyed by the embryo, and by the perisperm when 

 there is one, with imbibed water. In the case of teak in Central 

 India it would appear, from numerous experiments made, that 

 continued exposure to all the alternations of the weather during a 

 whole year, provided fermentation is prevented, favours this second 

 ripening process, 



ARTICLE 3. 



TESTING OF SEEDS. 



Seeds may be originally barren or they may lose their germina- 

 tive power owing to one or more of the following causes: fermen- 



