196 Transactions of the Prussian Gardening Society, 



triloba; for useful timber, Q. Prinos monticola and Q, 

 Prinos pennsylvanica; and for colour, Q. alba and tinctoria, 

 and Phellos angustifolius. 



39. On the Germination of Seeds. 



M. Otto states that he uses oxalic acid to make old seeds 

 germinate. The seeds are put into a bottle filled with 

 oxalic acid, and remain there till the germination is observ- 

 able, which generally takes place in from twenty-four to forty- 

 eight hours, when the seeds are taken out, and sown in the 

 usual manner. Another way is to wet a woollen cloth with 

 oxalic acid, on which the seeds are put, and it is then 

 folded up and kept in a stove; by this method small and 

 hard seeds will germinate equally as well as in the bottle. 

 Also very small seeds are sown in pots, and placed in a hot- 

 bed ; and oxalic acid, much diluted, is applied twice or 

 thrice a day till they begin to grow. Particular care must 

 be taken to remove the seeds out of the acid as soon as the 

 least vegetation is observable. 



M. Otto found that by this means seeds which were from 

 20 to 40 years old grew, while the same sort sown in the usual 

 manner did not grow at all. 



42. Account of the Experiments made in the Veterinary College at 

 Berlin, for ascertaining what sort of Wood will remain longest in 

 the Ground without rotting. By M. Hartwig. 



Stakes of firs, oaks, and of Robin/a Pseud- Acacia were, 

 after being five years in the ground, not the least altered ; 

 while, after two years, almost all others, as T^ilia (lime wood), 

 Petula alba (white birch), Carpinus (hornbeam ),^fcer (maple), 

 &c, were more or less rotten. Salix, Juglans, Pagus, 

 Castanea, and Platan us, lasted four years. He also ob- 

 served that those stakes which had their bark left on, or 

 were, as usual, oiled or tarred, did not keep any longer than 

 those without either bark or preparation; but that those 

 which were burned a little way above and below the ground 

 stood well, particularly when tarred. This being the cheapest 

 method, it will be more in use than the following, which, 

 however, is the best way for preserving wood. It must 

 first be painted with oil colour, and, after it is dry, a sheet 

 of iron, about 16 in. long, must be put round it, so as to be 

 as much in the ground as above it, and then the whole 

 should be painted again. 



Stakes or posts treated in this manner will remain perfectly 

 sound for a long time. 



