10 THE FLORIST AND 



The other observation of which we have to speak, and which is due to M. 

 Micheli, is a new proof of the rapidity with which seeds, not sheltered from 

 atmospheric influences, are deprived of life 1 .- Having read the notice of M. 

 Trochu, he conceived the idea of experimenting on old seeds whose age he 

 knew exactly, and of a great number of species. He made a sowing in the 

 open ground, during last spring ; but a very few plants came up ; these 

 were Cynoglossum linifolium, Chrysanthemum carinatum, Coreopsis dever- 

 sifolia, Escholtzia californica, of which the seeds were gathered in 1846 ; 

 Convolvulus tricolor, Hibiscus trionum and Ijpomcea purpurea, which were 

 two years older ; in the case of a single species, the Malope grandiflora, the 

 date went back to 1840, that is, they were twelve years old. 



These results conform entirely to those which have been obtained in 

 England; a liberal society which is instituted in that country for the progress 

 of science, and which is called the British Association for the advancement 

 of science, has appointed a commission to study specially this interesting 

 question of the longevity of seeds. In one of its latest sittings, it received 

 from Dr. Lankester, the chairman of this committee, the report of the 

 twelfth experiment on this subject. This experiment was tried with seeds 

 gathered in 1844, a part of which w T ere sown in 1850 and 1851. The re- 

 sult has been the rapid diminution of the number of germinating seeds, as 

 they became older, a result which must be expected after all that we know 

 on the subject ; the question, therefore can be considered as settled, at least 

 in a general manner. 



At this same meeting of the scientific society just mentioned, there 

 was again mention made of those famous seeds of Raspberries found in a 

 Celtic sarcophagus, which have been sown with success, and of which we in- 

 formed our readers. In England, as in France, this extraordinary fact has 

 found many disbelievers ; but new investigations have been made, with much 

 care, during last year, and they have tended to confirm it. Among other 

 witnesses still living, we may mention Dr. Royle, the celebrated botanist, 

 who had for a long time the direction of the garden of acclimation at Cal- 

 cutta ; he has asserted that he was present when the brown matter contain- 

 ing the seeds, and which had been collected in the remains of the skeleton, 

 was presented to Dr. Lindley, and has further declared that he had no 

 doubt of the truth of what lias been said of the germination of seeds preserved 

 under the ground for ages. 



The deep burial of seeds therefore, we repeat is the true and probably the 

 only means of preserving their vitality for an indefinite length of time. We 

 should have been happy, at this time, if our ancestors of some centuries ago 

 had thought of keeping in reserve for us, in this manner, some seeds on 



