Sowing Seeds in Snow. 303 



germinated in the course of two days. These seeds not only 

 germinated well, but in rapidity surpassed my expectations; and 

 I even succeeded in raising Crotalaria purpurea in this manner, 

 which I had never been able to do before by any other method. 



When the snow had melted on the latter, I did not cover the 

 seed with a little sandy earth as I had done with the others, but 

 waited till the germ had fairly made its appearance, when I 

 put the sand on ; and, from the success of both, I consider the 

 practice is established as generally useful. When newly fallen 

 snow is not to be had, that which is frozen in ice-cellars, and 

 easily preserved till the month of June, will do equally well. 



Besides the very interesting process of the germination of the 

 seeds by this method, a number of obstacles are avoided, which 

 have frequently a bad effect on germination. Such as, for 

 instance, a thick putrid substance, which exudes from many 

 seeds, and particularly from those of the Leguminosa? ; and 

 which, when in the earth and totally excluded from the air, has 

 a very injurious reaction on the unfolding of the germ, but when 

 in the free open air it is found to be uninjurious. 



Professor J. Liebig of Giessen sent me a few days ago his 

 opinion of my practice in the following words : — "It appears 

 to me that the loose formation of the snow, which allows of an 

 uninterrupted admission of oxygen; the exclusion of those foreign 

 agents which are always found in a soil that contains corrupted 

 vegetable matter ; and, finally, the volatile alkali of the snow — 

 all these causes combined effect the remarkable appearance of 

 germination in this process." The reason why J?hodoraceae must 

 be sown on the ground without any covering, if you wish the 

 seeds to germinate at all, seems to me to be found in the free 

 influence of the air, and also in the exclusion of the carbonic 

 acid during the first period of vegetation. 



M. Lucas, an apothecary in Arnstadt, who is also a physi- 

 ologist and most intelligent friend of gardening, some weeks ago 

 sent me his opinion of my method of sowing seeds in snow, and 

 he thinks that germination by this process is founded on the fol- 

 lowing principles : — 



1. When the seed is in the snow, the temperature cannot be 

 far from the freezing point, as long as there is snow there ; the 

 melted snow, provided it is not warm, does not draw any matter 

 from the seed which is necessary for its vitality, therefore it 

 remains the same. 2. The melted snow only moistens the sur- 

 face of the seed without submerging it, and easily penetrates the 

 cells of the seeds by means of the capillary tubes, from which 

 the air must escape. If the seed is too moist, the excess of 

 fluidity does not produce a proportionate softness of the seed, 

 as the air that is contained in the seed cannot so easily escape 

 to give place to the moisture. 3. Snow water contains a great 



1811. — VI. 3d Ser. x 



