GERMINATION. 77 



active; but after having been deprived, by the action of 

 water, of nearly all their salts, and employed in this 

 state, under the name of buck-ashes^ they still produce 

 great effect. 



The action of the buck-ashes is most powerful upon 

 moist lands and meadows, in which they not only facili- 

 tate the growth of useful plants, but if employed con- 

 stantly for several years, they will free the soil from weeds. 

 By the use of them, land constantly drenched with water 

 may be freed from rushes, and prepared for yielding 

 clover and other plants of good kinds. Wood ashes pos- 

 sess the double property of amending a wet and clayey 

 soil by dividing and drying it, and of promoting vegeta* 

 tioo by the salts they contain. 



CHAPTER IV. 



OF GERMINATION. 



Oxygen, heat, and water are almost the sole agents 

 in the act of germination. 



Pure water, when imbibed by a seed, as a grain of 

 wheat, for instance, increases its volume, and mcilitates 

 the developement of the germ. But the first of these 

 effects is entirely physical, and takes place in the dead 

 as well as in the living seed, as has been proved by M. de 

 Saussure. Water changes neither the odor nor the taste 

 of seeds. A grain of wheat, deprived of its vital prin- 

 ciple, is, by the action of water, disposed to putrefaction ; 

 whilst in one which is living, the fluid contributes to the 

 developement of a succession of new powers. 



There are some seeds that can germinate under water; 

 but it is only through the quantity of air contained in that 

 liquid that it then operates in assisting germination. The 

 developement of the germ will not take place in water 

 completely deprived of air; and when the water contains 

 but little air, it is necessary, to its producing the same 

 effect, that the volume of it should be increased. 



Seeds, whilst germinating, absorb oxygen, and surround 

 themselves with an atmosphere of carbonic acid. This, 

 however, does not take place if the seed be in Contact 

 7* 



