I905- 



Notes. 



41 



fame of that interesting corner of rural England known as Poppyland, 

 in the neighbourhood of Cromer, Norfolk. The late Clement Scott did 

 much to immortalise the place in his " Garden of Sleep," and christened 

 it " Poppyland." 



I visited the district in July, 1904, and had several instances brought 

 to my notice of the manner in which the seed of the Scarlet Poppy 

 {Papaver Rhceas, Linn ) lies buried beneath the soil for some time and 

 yet retains its vitality. There are not so many Poppies in this far-famed 

 corner of rural England as formerly, and this is stated on good authority 

 to be due to the fact that when steam ploughs were used a deeper furrow 

 was turned up, with the result that a mass of Poppies sprung up as if by 

 magic ! So much so indeed, that these ploughs had to be discarded and 

 hand-ploughs resorted to again, with the result that the mass of Poppies 

 disappeared, and the tiller of the soil was pleased that he had, as a con- 

 sequence of the change of plough, succeeded in — to a great extent — 

 eradicating one of nature's pests to agriculture. These observations 

 clearly prove to my mind that Scarlet Poppy seed lies buried very deeply 

 in the soil at and near Cromer, and also retains its vitality, germinating, 

 if only it is afforded the opportunity of so doing, by being brought to the 

 surface of the ground. 



Further, wherever building operations are carried out near Cromer, 

 the soil thrown up from the foundations results in a mass of Scarlet 

 Poppies propagating themselves. I saw several gardens of recently 

 erected houses which were in July one dense mass of bright scarlet, 

 where previously not a single blossom was to be seen ! 



Since writing the foregoing I observe that Dr. E. Strasburger and his 

 co-authors in " A Text Book of Botany" (page 294) state that "the ger- 

 mination of seeds, once securely lodged in the soil, may begin imme- 

 diately or after a longer or shorter period of rest. The seeds of many 

 Conifers do not germinate for several years. Some plants again, in ad- 

 dition to seeds which germinate in the first year, produce others which 

 require a longer rest {Trifoluwi pratense, Robhiia Psendacacia^ Cytisus 

 Labtirnwn, Reseda lutea, &c.) Even under favourable circumstances 

 such seeds do not germinate until a definite length of time has elapsed. 

 Germination may be delayed also by external conditions, and the vitality 

 of the seed may still be retained for years. Thus, for example, on the removal 

 of a forest from land that had been under cultivation for forty-six years, 

 Peter found that a great variety of field plants at once sprang up as soon 

 as the requirements for their germination were restored." 



W. Percivai. WESTEiyi.. 



St. Alban's, Herts, England. 



In the year 1903 I had occasion to cut out a new walk through land 

 that has been under grass certainly not less than forty years. I used the 

 turf to make embankments, sodding most of it, but leaving a margin 

 bare to grow flowers in. The remainder of the earth removed was heaped 



