168 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK *. 



or two later than when two crops are to be taken. For, all 

 plants prepare the most of nutritious juices at the period of 

 their fruiting. Indiap corn is the richest in saccharine 

 matter at about the time its grain is turning from a milky 

 to a mealy state. Cattle will eat either of the above grains, 

 treated like a grass crop, with great avidity ; and every one 

 knows that it is desirable to give them a change of food 

 through the winter. 



SEED SAVING. 



THE seeds of cucumber, melon, etc., are better, at any 

 rate, when four of five years old than when fresh ; and wo 

 have well authenticated instances of seeds retaining their 

 vitality much longer than this. There is no fixed period 

 during which seeds will 'keep. There is no reason to sup- 

 pose that they would lose their vitality in any assignable 

 number of years if the proper conditions were observed. 

 De Candolle says that M. Gerardin raised kidney beans, 

 obtained from Tournefort's herbarium, which were at least 

 a hundred years old ; but beans left to the chances of the 

 atmosphere are not good the second year, and hardly worth 

 planting in the third. Professor Lindley raised raspberry 

 plants from seed not less than sixteen or seventeen hundred 

 years old. Multitudes of other instances might be given. 

 In reply to the first question, it may, then, be said, that the 

 length of time through which seeds will keep depends upon 

 the method of preserving them. 



We do not suppose it to be essential to inclose apple, 

 pear, and quince seeds in earth for the purpose of preserv- 

 ing their vitality during a single winter. But if exposed 

 to the air, the rind becomes so hard and rigid as to make 

 germination very difficult from mere mechanical rea>-n<. 

 The moisture of the soil keeps the covering in a tender 



