1870. 



XEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



89 



r 



SEEDS : THEIB ORIGIN AND VITALITY. 



EW employments in life afford 

 ho those engaged in them so 

 many interesting phenomena 

 that of the farmer. Changes take 

 place in his trees that he cannot ac- 

 Cp^ count for ; such as blossoming in 

 '^^ September instead of May. Curi- 

 ous and unthought of qualities appear 

 in the progeny of his stock, and unknown plants 

 spring into life in the soil and on the rocks, 

 ■which make his thinking powers ache in the 

 attempt to find where they came from, and 

 •what they are. 



A well was dug in the early part of winter, 

 and the earth thrown out from a depth of thirty- 

 five feet below the surface. Some portions of 

 this, from the lowest point, were immediately 

 hauled away and deposited in a heap. Quite 

 early in the following spring, signs of vegeta- 

 tion were observed, and in July, a luxuriant 

 growth of plants covered the ground ! What 

 were they ? Where did they come from .'' 

 How did the seed get thirty-five feet below 

 the surface ? No other plants in the neighbor- 

 hood were like these ! 



In ditching, the farmer throws out banks 

 of soil, some of it four feet below the sur- 

 face, which are often covered the same season 

 with plants that have not been seen before in 

 that locality. Where did the seed come from ? 

 If the same kind of plants grew in that vicin- 

 ity before, the winds, or the birds, or the 

 squirrels, might have taken the seed to this 

 spot. 



How came the seed at the bottom of the 

 ditch dug in the swamp ? On this point there 

 are dilTerent opinions. In the first chapter of 

 Genesis, and the eleventh verse, it reads : — 



"And God said. Let the earth bring forth grass, 

 the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding 

 fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon 

 the earth : and it was so." 



The seed, then, must have been created be- 

 fore the tiee grew. The seed was upon or in 

 the earth ; but when the plant had matured, it 

 had seed perfected in it, and was thereafter 

 capable of propagating itself. 



A common opinion is, that all seeds were 

 originally deposited in the earth at the crea- 

 tion, and that they have been mingled with the 

 solid earth in every conceivable situation, — in 

 some instances near the surface and in others 

 at immense distances below it, where the tem- 



perature is always so low as to prevent ger- 

 mination. This has been brought about by 

 the convulsions of nature, — by travelling gla- 

 ciers, earthquakes, land-slides and volcanic 

 action, upheaving the earth in one place, and 

 depressing it in another ; so that if all seeds 

 were once upon the surface of the earth, they 

 have become mi.xed with it, and are now found 

 in most places where excavations are going on. 

 But others entertain a different opinion; 

 believing that the work of creation is still go- 

 ing on, and that when such cases occur as 

 those alluded to, the seeds have just been 

 created, and especially placed where the plants 

 sprung from them. One of the most learned 

 persons of our acquaintance, a "doctor of 

 laws," and a studious. Christian gentleman, 

 has stated to us that such is his belief. What 

 evidence he can adduce to justify such a con- 

 clusion we do not know ; nor do we know of 

 any, besides that alluded to in Genesis, to war- 

 rant the. belief that they were all created as 

 narrated in the Mosaic account. 



If they were created "i/t the beginning,'''' 

 their powers of vitality are as wonderful as 

 the creation itself. Through how many incon- 

 ceivable ages must a grain of mustard seed, 

 for instance, have laid in the dark chambers 

 of the earth, and apparently as lifeless as the 

 stones around it ! And yet, when brought 

 into the genial sunlight, moisture and air, how 

 quick it has burst into life and activity, and 

 invited the birds into its branches to build 

 their nests there. 



Does not this afford us hints, or give us 

 positive assurance, that any seeds may be pre- 

 served with all their vital powers unimpaired, 

 if we but place them in favorable positions, 

 as nature seems to have done ! It would seem 

 so ; but we find seed laid away below the ac- 

 tion of frost, throwing out a germ, perhaps, 

 and then decaying. They are too deep to 

 spring up to the light and air, and yet fail to 

 preserve their vitality. Who can explain this ? 



Most of the seeds commonly used by far- 

 mers may bo preserved with their full powers 

 for several years in succession, by placing 

 them wluire there is a dry, even temperature 

 at about forty-five or fifty degrees. In such a 

 position, and put up in brown paper bags, 

 seeds will keep good for an indefinite time. 

 But with ordinary care, beans of all kinds will 

 keep good three or four years ; beet seed, the 



