May  I,  1S96.J 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
739 
to  the  intense  cold  of  the  Arctic  expedition  of 
187-1  to  1870.  The  next  question  that  arises  is  : 
how  long  of  seeds  retain  their  vitality  when 
stored  in  the  ordinary  ways  adopted  by  dealers  ? 
As  a rule,  seedsmen  and  gardeners  prefer  new 
seed,  because  a larger  p reentage  germinates ; arid 
mixing  cold  seeds  with  new,  tells  its  own  tale  in 
irregular  germination.  Nevertheless,  there  are  many 
seeds  that  retain  their  vitality  from  live  to  ten  years 
sufficiently  well  to  be  depended  upon  to  yield  a 
good  crop.  Old  balsam  seed,  other  things  being 
equal,  lias  the  reputation  of  yielding  a larger  pro- 
poriiou  of  double  flowers  than  ue«'.  ; and  some 
gardeners  consider  that  cucumber  seed  of  four  or 
five  years  of  age  gives  bettor  results  than  the  seed 
of  the  previous  year.  As  already  mentioned,  perfectly 
ripened  seed  will  retain  its  vitality  longer  than 
imperfectly  ripened  seed.  In  illustration  of  this, 
we  note  that  carrot  seed  grown  in  France  retains 
its  germiuative  power,  on  the  average,  longer  than 
English' grown  seed,  owing  to  climatal  differences. 
There  is  one  other  natural  condition  in  relation 
to  the  vitality  of  seeds  that  should  be  mentioned  ; 
that  is,  the  duration  of  the  vitality  of  seeds  on  the 
mother  plant.  Some  of  tlm  Australian  Froteaceo', 
and  some  of  the  flr  trees,  especially  North  American, 
bear  the  seed-vessels  containing  quick  seeds  of  many 
successive  seasons ; and  only  undtr  the  influence 
of  excessive  drought  or  forest  fires  do  they  open 
and  release  the  seed.  Rapid  forest  fires  are  often 
not  sufficient  to  consume  the  cones,  but  suliicieut 
to  cause  them  to  open  and  free  the  seed  for  a 
succession  of  trees.  The  unopened  cones  of  thu-ly 
vears  have  been  counted  on  some  fir  trees;  and  it 
is  averred  that  the  first  seed-vessels  of  some  prq- 
tenceous  trees  do  not  open  to  shed  their  seed, 
under  ordinary  conditions,  until  the  death  of  the 
parent  plant,  so  that  a tree  may  bear  the  acciunu- 
lattd  seed  of  half  a centuiy  or  more. 
Finally,  a few  words  respecting  the  extreme 
longevity  attributed  to  certain  seeds.  The  reputed 
gem  ination  of  ‘‘niummy  wheat,”  from  two  to  three 
thousand  years  old,  has  hi  en  the  theme  of  much 
writing;  but  the  results  of  careful  subsequent  ex- 
periments with  grain  taken  from  variou-s  tombs  do 
not  support  the  doubtless  equally  conscientious, 
though  Jess  skilfully  conducted,  experiment.^,  suj  pused 
by  some  persons  to  have  established  the  fact  of 
wheat  of  so  great  an  age  having  germinated.  Indeed 
it  is  now  known  that  the  experiments  mtiiniy  relied 
upon  to  prove  this  long  retention  of  vitaliiy  were 
falsified  by  the  gardener  who  had  charge  of  them. 
Nevertheless,  there  is  no  doiibt  that  some  seeds  do 
retain  their  vitality  for  a very  long  ireried,  as  is 
proved  by  nnmeious  wtll-authenticated  instances. 
Almost  every  writer  on  physiological  botany  cites 
a number  of  instances.  Kidn-  y beans  taken  from 
11  e herba-ium  of  Tournefort  are  said  to  have  ger- 
minated alter  having  been  thus  preserved  for  at 
least  100  years.  Wheat  and  r c are  also  credited 
wi  h having  retained  their  vitality  for  as  long  a 
period.  Seeds  of  the  sei,isilive  pant  {Mimoffa  )>udica) 
kept  in  an  erdinary  bag  at  '.ho  .lardin  do.s  Pianto 
Paris,  germinated  freely  wlrcn  sxiy  years  old.  A 
long  list  might  be  made  of  seeds  that  have  ger- 
miuatod  after  being  st<  red  for  twenty-fire  to  thirty 
years.  If  seeds  re  ain  their  vitality  ior  .so  long  a 
period  as  this  tinder  such  c-jiidit-ons,  it  ijqtiilecon- 
ceivab'e  tliat  seeds  buried  deep  in  the  earth,  beyond 
atmospheric  iiitiucnces,  and  wl.ore  ibcro  was  net 
excessive  moisture,  might  retain  their  genninative 
power  for  a-i  almost  indefinite  jcriod;  and  the  tact 
that  pbiiita  previously  unknown  in  a locality  etten 
spring  up  where  cvcav.iti'n  a have  been  nuidc, 
bear  out  this  assumpti  11  The  same  thing  happens 
in  arable  land,  should  the  farmer  plough  deeper 
than  usual;  and  dee;er  tillage,  which  weuld  otlier- 
wise  be  beneficial  is  often  avoided  pn  this  account. 
A careful  writer  like  Lindley  states,  t’uongh  without 
qualification,  that  ho  had  raspberry  plants  raised 
from  seed  taken  from  ihe  stomach  of  a man,  wh  te 
skelo  on  was  found  U irly  feet  belo-.v  the  surface  of 
the  grotuid.  Judging  from  coins  found  at  the  same 
place,  the  seeds  were  piobably  1000  or  1700  years 
old.  One  more  example  of  seeds  germinatng  that 
are  supposed  to  have  been  buried  some  1500  to  2000 
years.  About  twenty  year.s  ago,  on  the  removal  of 
a quantity  of  slack  of  the  ancient  silver  mines  of 
Greece,  several  plants  sprang  up  in  abundance  pre- 
viously unknown  in  the  locaJity.  Among  these  was 
a species  of  Gla.ucmm,  which  was  even  de.scribed  as 
new ; and  it  is  suggested  that  the  seed  may  have 
lain  dormant  for  tho  long  period  indicated.  Rut 
there  is  not  the  amount  of  certainty  about  any  of 
these  assumed  very  old  seeds  to  conviuce  the  scep- 
tical or  to  establi.sh  a fact.  It  remains  yet  for  some- 
body to  institute  and  carry  out  careful  investigations 
w here  exca>  ations  are  being  made. 
W.  Rotting  Heiisley. 
— Nature. 
■ WILL  THERE  BE  A RUBBER  FAMINE  ? 
AVe  are  surprised  to  see  in  the  London  ImcHa-llubher 
Journal  a prcdiclion  of  a rubber  famine,  written  in 
a style  suggestive  of  those  newspapper  articles 
which  tell  us  from  time  to  time  how  rubber  is 
gathered  in  hollow  pumpkins,  or  that  “para”  is 
not  lubber  until  it  has  been  vulcanized.  Fifty  years 
ago  it  was  well  enough  to  talk  about  the  known 
supplies  of  rubher  becoming  exhausted,  and  it  was 
the  work  of  an  inielligeut  man  for  .John  Forbses 
Royle,  for  instance,  to  urge  that  new  sources  of  this 
valuabe  material  be  looked  for.  But  in  Roylei’s 
time  no  rubber  bad  been  marketed  from  India,  its 
pre.sonce  in  Bolivia  and  in  Africa  was  unknown,  and 
the  extent  of  the  Amazonian  forests  unsnspected. 
Tho  situation  is  far  different  now,  since  Stanley’s 
treat  work  in  revealing  the  resources  of  the  Congo 
basin  and  Emin  Pasha’s  discovery  of  rubber  in  the 
Soudan,  and  since  the  French  have  come  into  a position 
to  develop  Madagascar  on  a broader  scale.  We  feel  safe 
in  asserting  that  the  India- Jlubher  Journal  does  not  know 
of  any  country,  important  at  any  time  as  a producer 
of  rubber,  winch  is  not  still  exporting  it.  Has  it 
seen  any  evidence  that  Para  ruliber  is  glowing  scarcer, 
or  that  the  African  grades  are  becoming  harder  to 
ob  ain?  Can  it  sbo-.v  that,  on  the  whole,  there  ate 
fewer  rubber- trees  available  than  time  in  the  past  ? 
The  reasons  ivliicb  our  contemporary  gives  for  its 
a'arm  are  (1)  the  rapid  growth  of  the  bicycle  industry; 
(2)  the  probability  of  rubber  tires  being  1 irgely  used 
lor  carriages  ; and  (8)  the  recklessness  of  “the  owners 
of  plantations  in  west  Africa  and  elsewhere  ” in 
their  “method  of  tapping  the  trees."  We  can  say 
that,  as  for  the  United  States,  the  largest  estimate 
of  the  consumption  of  rubber  by  the  bicyt-la  trade 
does  not  exceed  five  per.  cent  of  our  total  imports, 
while  the  cairiage-tire  demand  does  not  promis-e 
soon  to  equal  in  value  even  the  rubber-stamp  trade. 
In  a conntiy  where  the  importation  of  rubber  has 
bounded  upward  at  rate  of  millions  of  pounds  an- 
nually, none  of  these  items  is  of  comanding  import- 
ance. and  impiorters  believe  that  all  the  rubber  actually 
demanded  by  manufacturei  s will  long  be  forthcoming. 
There  is  no  more  fear  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic 
that  rubber  will  become  exhausted  than  that  ci-al  or 
v.hcat  will.  And  we  presume  that  our  rubber-merch- 
ants have  studied  (he  situation  as  carefully  as  those 
of  any  other  country. 
All  the  rubber-vines  that  have  ever  been  killed  in 
Africa  are  as  a drop  in  the  sea  compared  with  wliat 
rtill  remain  there,  and  we  cannot  learn  that  the 
rubber-gatherers  on  the  Amazon  are  so  dffereut  from 
iha  rest  of  mankind  as  to  be  unable  to  see  that, 
if  they  kill  their  trees,  their  occupation  will  be  gone. 
It  is  a half-centnry  since  the  expression  “ kil  iug  the 
goose  that  lays  the  golden  eggs”  was  first  applied  to 
the  rubber  industry,  and  it  is  time  that  some  new 
stock  phrases  were  introduced  into  the  work  hack- 
writers on  this  subject, 
The  most  surprising  thing  of  all  is  that  the 
Journal  should  see  in  the  diwelopmeut  of  the  balata 
croxi  a remedy  for  the  threatened  famine.  It  hears 
that  in  tho  handful  of  forests  in  the  Guianas  there 
is  enough  gum— only  slightly  inferior  to  caoutchouc 
to  support  a trade  for  centuries.  Evidently  our 
c intemxiorary  has  only  just  got  hold  of  the  remark- 
able pmsxiectus  issued  a year  or  so  ago  by  an  enthiisi» 
astic  French  gentleman,  who  figured  out  that  U e 
penal  colony  nf  Cayenne  could  gather  in  the  balata 
