250 SKETCHES OF C BE AT I OR. 



CHAPTER XXm. 



VITALITY OF BUKIED VEGETABLE GERMS. 



T VENTURE here to enunciate a view which to many 

 -■- may appear incredible. For some years past I have 

 been inclined to believe that the germs of vegetation which 

 flourished upon our continent previous to the reign of ice, 

 and many of which must have been buried from twenty to 

 one hundred feet beneath the surface of the glacial rub- 

 bish, may have retained their vitality for thousands of 

 years, or even to the present time. There are not a few 

 indications that vegetable germs are capable of such pres- 

 ervation, and not a few that they thus exist in the ancient 

 drift. The consequences of such remarkable preservation 

 possess a geological importance so novel and interesting 

 that I am sure the reader will be pleased with a view of 

 the facts bearing upon the doctrine. 



Many familiar facts may be cited which certainly have 

 a significance far greater than has been generally suspect- 

 ed, and which tend to show that the seeds of vegetation 

 are reposing in a dormant state in our ordinary soils and 

 subsoils. Nothing is a more common observation than to 

 see plants making their appearance in situations where the 

 same species was previously unknown, or for a long time 

 unknown, and under circumstances such that the supposi- 

 tion of a recent distribution of seeds is quite precluded. 



The sudden appearance of unwonted species frequently 

 occurs when a change is produced in the physical condi- 

 tion of the soil. Left to Nature, certain perennial grasses 

 secure almost exclusive foothold in our fields, and form a 



