50 



PROCBKDtNT.S OF THE 



packeU are folded up K>osely in a couple of envelopes of pa|)er ; 

 and an invariable caution is j^iven lUonjc with them, never to let 

 the jKicka^^^s pel into a box or tnink ; much less into the ship's 

 hold, but to suspend them loosely from an airy corner of the 

 cabin, frt^.* from the risk of moisture and spray." 



" On a march, where yt)U move daily under canvas from place 

 to plaiT, the amount or duration of shade required for drying 

 seeds, or their Heshy coverings, is not available, or I should cer- 

 tainly never torrify the packets in the sun ; jdl thnt can be said 

 of the method, is that it >|K»edily dries the seeds without killini;- 

 them. The management on board ship appears to me to be every 

 thing ; loose wrappers, free exposure to the air in shade, and 

 exemption from boxes, trunks, or the hold." 



" The exposure to the sun, with the augmented heating effect, 

 produced by radiation, on a black blanket, is perhaps interesting 

 with reference to the conditions, mentioned by you at page 304 

 of your Introduction to Botany, Edition : but tbe effect is 

 probably merely a heating one, as the opacity of the paper, and 

 the reflecting quality of the light colour, must prevent the lumi- 

 nous rays being transmitted to the seeds. I should certainly 

 expect a different result in the end Vsith reference to germina- 

 tion, if the seeds were directly exposed." 



" On one occasion, I received from England a large investment 

 of Garden vegetable seeds from a London Seedsman. They were 

 packed in the thick dark brown paper, which is generally used by 

 Grocers and Seedsmen, and which, for the facility of folding, is 

 usually in a somewhat damp state. The packages were nailed 

 up in a large wooden box, with numerous folds of this paper, 

 and the box then hermetically sealed in a tin case ; it then found 

 its way into the ship's hold. The damp paper, which in the tem- 

 perature of England, say at riO^, would have mattered little, 

 became an important agent when the ship got into the tropics ; 

 at about SO** the damp became a hot vapour, and when the 

 seeds reached me, I found them all in a semipulpy and mildewed 

 state, in fact parboiled by the steam process, and out of a £30. 

 investment, not a seed germinated. 



I shall soon have the pleasure of sending you another collec- 

 tion, made on the hills to the westward, and in Cashmeer, 

 where I now am. 



" I have found thePrangos pabularia gro\Wng in the valley." 

 With reference to this communication, it was stated that by far 

 the greater part of the seeds alluded to by Dr. Falconer, were 

 in a fresh state when they reached the Society, and presented a 

 remarkable contrast with those which usually arrive from Cal- 

 cutta, and elsewhere. There can be no doubt, that the most 

 important precaution to observe, in conveying seeds safely 

 through a long voyage, consists in exposing them freely to the 

 air : because if that is attended to, the damp which, when in com- 



