• I. 



y He 



■] 



'y 



ane 



h 



er 



the 

 the 



13 of 



ce of 

 after 

 'hich 

 hay- 



1 not 

 T^en- 



gree- 

 :h In- 



:over, 

 rboth 



Make 

 nder 



u 





omes 



uteii ; 

 fer- 



is 



ed ^0' 







keep 



e 



\V1 



re 



To 



ferve 



Sect. XVI. 7 



OF 



SEEDS 



457 



preferve a ftack of wheat dry, a good cover of thatch may feem fuf 

 ficient ; but as this is liable to injury by vermin, it wodd be an ad 

 ditional fecurity, if at the time of making the ftack the (heaves were 



/ 



laid higheft in the middle, and lo 



ery fide, fo th 



if any 



ftTould find its way into the ftack, it might drain onward 



the flraw of the fheaves, which would thus ad like thatch through 



the whole flack 



There are inflances of great durability of feeds, which have been 

 preferved dry, and fecured from either fo great heat or fo great cold, as 

 might deftroy their life or organifm. Thus there is an account of the 

 feeds of Indian wheat,' which grew well in a hot-houfe after h 

 been kept thirty-four years, as was accurately afcertained 



a 



Bath So 



ty, Vol. V. p. 464 



And it has been lately alTerted, that many 



feeds of more than a hundred years old, which were found in fome 

 old herbarium at Vienna, have been made to germinate by the ufeof 



oxycrenated muriatic acid and water. Philof. Mag 



But if the 



fe of a feed be deflroyed by frofl, or fire, or mechanic injury, 

 putrefadion fucceeds, and decompofition ; as when the organic life of 

 an egg is deftroyed by violently agitating it, it is known foon to pu- 



trcfy. 



To preferve feeds in barns or 

 Ihould be firfl to make them dry, and fecondly to keep them dry ; 

 becaufe no feeds can vegetate without moiflure. The art of drying 

 moft feeds mufl confifl in duly ventilating them, efpecially on dry 



days 



granaries our principal 



which may be done by frequently turning over the heaps of 

 them ; and to preferve them dry in this climate the door and windows 



the warmth of the 

 ent ventilation ; 



of granaries (hould open to the fouth 



round the building for fuffic 



fun, with apertures 



which mufl be prevented from admitting rain or fnow by fheltering 



boards on the outfide. 



The heaps of corn fhould be furrounded with boards to keep them 

 from contad with brick or ftone walls; which, when warm moifl 



' • 3 N fouth- 



