General Notices. 519 



under those leaves, would have formed the crown of the future 

 root. In like manner, it will be found, that, if the cuttings are 

 taken 1 in. or more under the leaves, they will strike root, 

 grow, and flower equally well as if they had been taken exactly 

 at the base of the leaves ; but the roots are always unproductive. 

 August 19. 184.1. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. General Notices. 



Germination of Seeds, Sfc. — The following article has appeared anony- 

 mously in the Mark Lane Express, but as we recognise in it the mind of our 

 highly esteemed correspondent, Mr. Lymburn, we have transferred it to our 

 pages. 



Germination of Seeds. In the Mark Lane ExjJress of the 5th of April, 

 1841, a correspondent notices that, having damped his mangold-wurzel seed to 

 hasten its germination, he dried part of it with powder of quicklime, to make 

 it sow easier, and found, to his surprise, that the part of the seed which was limed 

 came away some days earlier than the other which was damped only, and kept 

 the lead, as to luxuriance of growth, all the year round. As this is not acci- 

 dental, but a striking proof of a theory brought forward some years ago, it 

 may, perhaps, interest your readers to have it stated. 



Around all the germs of plants destined for the increase of the species, 

 whether the buds or eyes, as they are called, of the tubers of the potato, the 

 buds destined to produce branches on the stems of trees, or the more peifect 

 and separated germ in the seed, the embryo of the future plant, — around all 

 these, embedded in the cotyledons, or seed leaves, of the most of seeds, or in 

 the coverings which surround the seeds or buds, there is a deposit of nourish- 

 ment laid up, to serve as the food of the young embryo when called into 

 existence in the spring. The general name of albumen has been given to 

 these deposits, which consist of starch or flour, sugar, and gum or mucilage, 

 and sometimes oil ; all substances containing albumen, and having been 

 elaborated from it by the organs destined for that purpose in the plant. Be- 

 fore, however, these substances can serve as nourishment, and be received 

 into the latex, or vital sap or blood of the plant, they must be again brought 

 back or reduced by a chemical process into the soluble state from which they 

 were at first elaborated. The milky juice of the corn, from which the farina 

 or starch is elaborated, will be familiar to most of your readers ; and, were it 

 possible to preserve it in that state, it would furnish a ready food for the 

 young plant ; but, as this would not keep, it is elaborated into starch or flour, 

 a substance which is difficult of decomposition, and in which state it is capable 

 of being preserved, if kept from excess of damp or heat. This will explain to 

 your readers the reason why unripe potatoes or grain germinate and come 

 away in the ground more quickly than when very much ripened : the food is 

 in a more soluble state, and more easily made available for the wants of the 

 young embryo. As the strength of a healthy young plant will in great measure 

 depend upon the quantity of soluble food with which it is furnished, it is thus 

 of great consequence to have the seed placed in circumstances which will 

 most assist the operations of nature in attaining this end. It has been lon^ 

 ago pointed out by M. Raspail and others, that the ultimate particles of starch 

 consist of a substance similar to gum, which he calls dextrine, enclosed in a 

 shell ; this substance is not difficult of solution itself, but that cannot take place 

 till the shell is burst, which requires a very high heat and tiie assistance of 

 other substances, as alkalies, and the principle called diastase, the agent in fer- 

 mentation. We thus see that the food of animals and plants needs similar 



