312 



HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



Hist.," vol. xiii. p. 89. It relates to the disco- 

 very of the seeds of plants which upon vege- 

 tating were found to be those of Polygonum, 

 Convolvulus, Rumen acetosella, and a species of 

 Atriplex. They were found at the bottom of 

 a sand-pit 25 feet deep, about a quarter of a 

 mile west of Melrose. These seeds were im- 

 bedded amongst decayed vegetable fibres, rest- 

 ing on a stratum, 8 inches in thickness, of fine 

 sandy clay. Under this stratum was a mass of 

 gravel . resting on a mound of the boulder for- 

 mation 90 feet in thickness, and which Mr 

 Kemp supposes was formed by the action of 

 glaciers. The stratification of fine sand over 

 the seeds was alternated with thin seams of 

 impalpable clay, in both of which traces of car- 

 bonaceous decayed wood and minute pebbles 

 were found, resembling much the foundation of 

 a river, as seen when a section is cut through its 

 bed to some depth. These and other circum- 

 stances led Mr Kemp to the conclusion that the 

 river Tweed had anciently run in this direction, 

 or that a lake of considerable size had at some 

 very remote period existed here, but which is 

 at present at a considerable distance, and be- 

 tween 50 and 60 feet below the level of the 

 sand quarry. " It is certain," Mr Kemp con- 

 cludes, " that in the time of the Eomans, about 

 two thousand years ago, no lake existed here • 

 and when Ave reflect on the time necessary to 

 have worn down the barrier of trap rock, and 

 to have drained so large a lake, which must have 

 stood at its highest level whilst the thin layers 

 of sand were deposited over the bed with the 

 vegetable remains, the antiquity of these seeds 

 is truly astonishing, and it is most wonderful 

 that they should have retained their power of 

 germination." 



Oily seeds lose their vitality speedily, probably 

 from their power of absorbing oxygen, and the 

 chemical changes thus induced. Some seeds 

 retain their vitality much longer than others : 

 thus the seeds of melons have been kept for 

 forty-one years, maize thirty years, rye forty 

 years, Mimosa sensitiva sixty years ; and, stranger 

 than all, those of the kidney bean, after being 

 kept for a century, have germinated, while gar- 

 deners in general believe that they are of one 

 year's duration only. 



Seeds will germinate more speedily, if sown 

 fresh, when nearly ripe, than if they were fully 

 ripe ; and in the latter case, if sown immedi- 

 ately, than if kept for some time — say for some 

 months, or a year or two. 



Intimately connected with the nature of seeds 

 is the condition of the soil into which they are 

 sown ; and hence gardeners bestow both much 

 more labour and care in its preparation than 

 farmers do. All soils must be thoroughly pul- 

 verised to render them fit for the reception of 

 the seed, and hence the great necessity of trench- 

 ing, digging, forking, raking, &c, to reduce the 

 soil to a fit state of fineness. These operations 

 must not, however, be carried on when the soil 

 is wet, else all the labour will be worse than in 

 vain. All soils must be comparatively dry be- 

 fore the seeds are committed to it. The soil, to 

 be in a fit state, upon examination should be 

 found to be composed of small particles sepa- 



rated from each other by interstitial spaces or 

 cavities. If wet, these cavities will be full of 

 water instead of air ; but if in a proper state, 

 the particles will be sufficiently moist, while the 

 cavities will be dry and charged with air. Nor 

 is it the presence of air alone, although one of 

 the essential conditions of certain germination, 

 that is here required ; these cavities admit the 

 solar heat, without which, in early spring, ger- 

 mination would be slowly enforced— so slow, in- 

 deed, that many seeds might perish before vege- 

 tation could take place. 



In light sandy soils, abounding in carbonaceous 

 matter, seeds germinate rapidly ; in stiff clayey 

 soils, more tardily ; and if imbedded in peat- 

 moss fully charged with water, they would either 

 perish, or remain probably for ages in a dormant 

 state. Most seeds vegetate freely in decayed 

 vegetable mould, with a slight addition of fine 

 sand ; others, such as some of the Coniferae, 

 would speedily rot in such a preparation, and 

 succeed best when placed in a more primitive 

 soil. 



The following table was drawn up by Adam- 

 son, founded on experiments made by him in 

 France, as to the period seeds remain in the 

 ground, after sowing, before germination takes 

 place : " Strawberry blite, beans, mustard, kid- 

 ney beans, turnips, radishes, 3 days ; lettuce 

 and aniseed, 4 days ; melon, cucumber, gourd, 

 and cress, 5 days ; horse-radish and leek, 6 

 days ; orache, 8 days ; purslane, 9 days ; cab- 

 bage, 10 days; hyssop, 30 days; parsley, 40 to 

 50 days ; almond, chestnut, peach, and peony, 



1 year ; rose, hawthorn, hazel-nut, and cornel, 



2 years."— (Fam. des Plantes, vol. i. p. 84.) 

 The following table was drawn up from ex- 

 periments made in the botanic garden at Ge- 

 neva ; the seeds were watered similarly, and 

 the temperature to which they were exposed 

 was 53° Fahr. as a medium : Amaranthaceae, 9 

 days ; Cruciferae, 10 days; Boragineae, Malvaceae, 

 Caryophylleae, 11 days ; Compositse, Convol- 

 vulaceae, Plantagineae, 12 days ; Polygoneae, 13 

 days ; Campanulaceae, Leguminosae, Valerinacese, 

 1 4 days ; Gramineae, Labiatae, Solaneae, 1 5 days ; 

 Rosaceae, 17 days; Ranunculaceae, 20 days; Ona- 

 grarise, 22 days ; Umbelliferse, 23 days. 



The order in which seeds germinate appears 

 often to be very capricious. Many, when sown 

 in spring, vegetate in course of a few days, 

 which, if sown in autumn, would not come up 

 the same year. The seeds of biennials, for the 

 most part, are committed to the ground as soon 

 as they are ripe, vegetate, and become strong 

 plants before winter, and flower the ensuing 

 summer. Heat, moisture, and absence from 

 light, are the conditions necessary to insure 

 germination. The former is a main agent in 

 accelerating this process, and hence seeds are 

 sown, in general, in spring, instead of during 

 winter, although the latter practice is often re- 

 sorted to in the case of garden pease and beans, 

 with a view to insure their earty ripening. 

 This is, however, a questionable practice.^ Seeds 

 of tender plants are sown in hot-beds, in pots 

 plunged in a mild bottom-heat ; and sometimes 

 imperfectly ripened ones are sown, and this 

 has been found to promote their early vegeta- 



