59"8 ON' THE GERMINATION 



the spring sown grain. Such shoots bear trans-' 

 plantation remarkably well : some of them, after 

 being kept in a moist state, in a tin- box, for 

 upwards of a week, were in May planted in a 

 garden at Warriston, and in the beginning of Au^ 

 gust produced ripe seeds. — I am perfectly aware' 

 that these facts are rather curious than of appa- 

 rent utility. Of this the practical farmer is the 

 best judge. 



VIVIPAROUS GRASSES. 



There is yet another manner in which these" 

 interesting plants, so necessary to the subsis- 

 tence of man and animals in general, are repro- 

 duced. The grasses, in the opinion of Linnaeus, 

 form nearly a sixth part of the plants which adorn 

 the surface of the earth ; but there is reason to 

 suppose that the proportion is much greater. In 

 the climates of the temperate zone, nine-tenths of 

 the plants spontaneously produced, exclusive of the 

 cultivated species, are Gramineae or Cyperaceae. 

 In exposed alpine situations, as on the summits of 

 our highland mountains, it may well be imagined, 

 that the seeds of the hardiest species seldom ripen, 

 and that the mountain verdure, in addition to va- 

 rious Cyperaceae, is chiefly supported by offsets from 

 the stems of the Festucae, Airae, and Poae. In many 



