GERMINATION. 



OHAPTEE I. 

 GERMINATION, 



The Nature of a Seed. — Its Duration. — Power of 

 Growth. — Causes of Germination. — Temperature. — 

 Light. — Humidity. — Chemical Changes. 



11. A SEED is a liying body, separating from its 

 parent, and capable of growing into a new individual 

 of the same species. It is a reproductive fragment, 

 or vital point, containing witbin itself all tbe elements 

 of life, wbich, however, can only be called into ac- 

 tion by special circumstances. 



12. But while it will with certainty become the 

 same species as that in which it originated, it does not 

 possess the power of reproducing any peculiarities 

 which may have existed in its parent. For instance, 

 the seed of a Q-reen Gage plum will grow into a new 

 individual of the plum species, but it will not pro- 

 duce the peculiar variety called the Green Gage. 

 This latter property is confined to leaf-buds, and 

 seems to be owing to the seed not being specially or- 

 ganized after the exact plan of the branch on which 

 it grew, but merely possessing the first elements of 

 such an organization, together with an invariable 

 tendency towards a particular kind of develop ement. 



13. Under fitting circumstances a seed grows ; that 

 is to say, the embryo which it contains swells, and 



