/ 
SEE 
SEE 
it from their own proper fubftance ; which the plan- j 
tule receives and draws to itfelf, by an infinite num- 
ber of little filaments or ramifications, called funes j 
umbilicales, or navel-firings, which it fends into the 
body of the placenta. 
The cotyledons, for the molt part, abound v/ith a 
balfam difpofed in proper cells ; and this feems to be 
oil brought to its g re ate ft perfection, while it remains 
humid, and then lodged in thefe repofitories ; one 
part of the compofition of this balfam is oily and te- 
nacious, and ferves to defend the embryo from any 
extraneous moifture, and by its vifcidity, to entangle 
and retain that fine, pure, volatile fpirit, which is 
the ultimate production of the plant. 
This oil is never obferved to enter into the veffels of 
the embryo,, which are too fine to admit fo thick a 
fluid, but this ferves to preferve the growing quality of 
the feed. The fpirit, however, being quickened by 
an aftlve power, may poffibly breathe a vital princi- 
ple into the juices that nourifh the embryo, and ftamp 
upon it the charafter that diftinguifhes the family ; 
after which every thing is changed into the proper 
nature of that particular plant. That this fpirit now 
is truly the efficacious part, is evident, for when that 
is gone off, the oil that remains is quite vapid and in- 
aftive. It is this that gives plants their fragrant fmell 
and peculiar taftes, nor do their particular colours a 
little depend upon it. 
Now when the Seed is committed to the earth, the 
placenta ftill adheres to the embryo for fome time, 
guards it from the accefs of noxious colds, &c. and 
even prepares and purifies the cruder juice the plant is 
to receive from the earth, by {training it, &c. thro’ 
its own body. 
This it continues to do, till the placentula being a 
little inured to its new element, and its root tolerably 
fixed in the ground and fit to abforb the juice thereof, 
it then perifhes, and the plants may be faid to be de- 
livered; fo that nature obferves the fame method in 
plants contained in fruits, as in animals in the mo- 
ther’s womb. 
It is very furprifing, how many forts of Seeds will 
continue good for feveral years, and retain their grow- 
ing faculty, whereas many other forts will not^grow 
when they are more than one year old •, which is, in 
a great meafure, owing to their abounding more or 
leis with oil, as alfo the nature of the oil, whether it 
is of a cold or hot quality, and the texture of their 
outward covering. As for example •, the Seeds of 
Cucumbers, Melons, and Gourds, which have thick 
horny coverings, and the oil of this Seed being of a 
cold nature, continue good eight or ten years •, and 
Radiffi, Turnep, Rape, &c. with other oily Seeds 
(whofe coats, though they are not fo hard and clofe 
as the others, yet) abounding with oil, which is of a 
warmer nature, the Seeds will keep good three or four 
years ; whereas the Seeds of Parfley, Carrots, Parf- 
neps, and moft other umbelliferous plants, whofe 
Seeds are, for the moft part, of a warm nature, and 
have little oil in them, lofe their growing faculty often 
in one year, but feldom remain good longer than two 
years. Indeed all forts of Seeds are preferved beft, if 
kept in the pods or hulks wherein they grow ; efpe- 
cially if they are not feparated from the placenta, to 
which they are fattened by an umbilical cord, thro’ 
which they received their nouriffiment in their em- 
bryo ftate ; fo that whoever would fend Seeds to a dis- 
tant country, Ihould always take care they are full 
ripe before they are gathered, and that they are pre- 
ferved in their pods or hufks ; and when they are 
packed up for exportation, there Ihould be great care 
taken, that they are not {hut up too clofely from the 
air-, which is abfolutely neceffary to maintain the 
principle of vegetation in the Seed (though in a lefs 
degree) as it is to nourifh the plant when germinated, 
as I have found by trying the following experiment, 
viz. Haying faved a parcel of frelh Seeds of feveral 
kinds, as Lettuce, Parfley, Onions, &c. I took a 
parcel of each kind, and put into glafs phials ; thefe 
1 flopped down clofe, and fealed hermetically, then 
put them up in a trunk ; the other parts of the fame' 
feeds I put into bags, and hung them up in a dry 
room, where the air had free admittance, in which 
place they remained a whole year ; and in the follow-* 
ing fpring I took out a part of each parcel of feeds 
from the phials, as alfo from the bags, and fowed 
them at the fame time, and upon the fame bed where 
they had an equal advantage of fun, air, &c. The 
refult of this experiment was, thatalmoft all the feeds 
which I took out of the bags grew extremely well, 
but of thofe which were kept in the phials not one 
came up ; after which, I fowed the remaining part 
of the feeds in the phials, but had not one fingle 
plant from the whole, whereas thole preferved in the 
bags grew very well both the fecond and third years. 
And this experiment was afterward tried by one of 
my particular friends, with whom the effeft was the 
fame as with me. And fome years after this, a gen- 
tleman of great eminence for his knowledge of plants, 
being very defirous to procure Seeds from every 
country, where the Britifh nation had any commerce, 
gave his inftruftions to all the agents abroad, to 
fend him over all the forts of Seeds they could col- 
left in their different countries, and to put them up 
in bottles, fealing the mouths of the bottles as cloiq 
as poffible, to exclude the air ; which was done by 
feveral of his correfpondents, who fent him great 
quantities of Seeds, but not one of them grew when 
they were fown ; fo that thofe perfons who lend Seeds 
to a diftant country, fhould never be guilty of the 
like error. 
Thefe experiments prove, that all Seeds require fome 
ffiare of freffi air, to keep the germen in a healthy 
ftate ; and that where the air is abfolutely excluded, 
the vegetative quality of the Seeds will foon be loft ; 
therefore the anointing of the Seeds, or covering them 
over with fat or oil, Ihould not be praftifed ; for as 
this will in a great meafure {hut up the pores of the 
Seeds, it will prevent the tranfpiration and infpiration 
of air, whereby the feeds will foon be fpoiled. 
The earth, which is the natural nurfe to all Seeds, 
will preferve them much longer than any other body, 
provided they are buried fo deep, as to be beyond the 
influence of fun and fhowers, whereby they are pre- 
vented from vegetating. I have known feeds of fe- 
veral plants remain buried three feet deep above twen- 
ty years, and when turned up to the air, have grown 
as well as freffi Seeds; and a particular friend of 
mine ftiewed me a fpot of ground, which was covered 
with Corn-iallad, the Seeds of which he affured me 
had been buried thirty-two years in that place, and 
when turned up again to the air, were as produftive as 
new Seeds. 
How the vegetative life is fo long preferved in Seeds, 
by being fo deeply immerfed in the ground, is very 
difficult to explain ; but as the fact is very notorious, 
it well accounts for the produftion of plants out of 
earth taken from the bottom of vaults, houfes, and 
wells ; and from the earth which has been taken at a 
very great depth in thofe places, there have been ma- 
ny plants produced, which were not inhabitants of 
the neighbouring foil ; and this has been brought as a 
proof to iupport the doftrine of fpontaneous produc- 
tions, by fome who have afferted, that plants* are of- 
ten produced without Seed. 
The earth which has been brought to England, from 
very diftant countries, having many of the Seeds of 
thofe plants which grew in thofe places buried there- 
in, when this has been placed in a proper degree of 
heat and fpread abroad, the Seeds have vegetated, 
and great numbers of plants have come up ; whereby 
many plants, which would have efcaped the notice of 
thofe perfons who colleft Seeds to fend to Europe, 
have been obtained. 
A method for raifing fuch Seeds which have hard coats or 
falls furrounding them, and that have been judged very 
difficult , if not impoffible , to be raifed in England. 
In the year 1724, I had a parcel of freffi Cocoa -nuts 
given me, which were brought over from Barbadoes : 
12 f part 
