GEll 
surenrent of land, we must refer our readers 
to Surveying ; under which head it will 
be (blind practically exemplified. We trust 
sufficient has been here said to show the 
utility and purposes of this important 
science, and to prove serviceable to such 
persons, as may not have occasion for deep 
research, or for extensive detail. 
GEORGIC, a poetical composition upon 
the subject of husbandry,' containing rules 
therein, put into a pleasing dress, and set 
off with all the beauties and embellishments 
of poetry. 
GEORGINA, in botany, a genus of 
the Syngenesia Superflua class and order. 
Receptacle chaffy ; no down ; calyx dou- 
ble ; the outer many-leaved ; inner one- 
leaved, eight-parted. There are three spe- 
cies. 
GERANIUM, in botany, crane’s bill, 
a genus of the Monadelphia Decandria 
class and order. - Natural order of Grid- 
nales. Gerania, JussieH. Essential cha- 
racter: calyx five-leaved; corolla tive-pe- 
talled, regular; nectary five honied glands, 
fastened to the base of the longer filaments ; 
fruit five-grained, beaked ; beaks simple, 
naked, neither spiral nor bearded. There 
are thirty-two species. 
GERARDIA, in botany, so called in 
honour of John Gerarde, our old English 
botanist, a genus of the Didynamia Angi- 
ospermia class and order. Natural order 
of Personat®. Scrophulari®, Jussieu. Es- 
sential character : calyx five-cleft ; corolla 
two-lipped, lower lip three-parted, the 
lobes emarginate, the middle segments two- 
parted ; capsule two-celled, gaping. There 
are ten species. 
GERMINATION. When a seed is placed 
in a situation favourable to vegetation, it 
very soon changes its appearance; the ra- 
licle is converted into a root, and sinks into 
he earth ; the plumula rises above the 
•arth, and becomes the trunk or stem. 
When these changes take place, the seed 
3 said to germinate ; the process itself has 
men called germination, which does not 
lepend upon the seed alone ; something ex- 
ernal must affect it. Seeds do not germi- 
ate equally and indifferently in all places 
nd seasons, they require moisture and a 
ertain degree of heat, and. every species 
f plant seems to have a degree of heat 
eculiar to itself, at which its seeds begin 
) germinate ; air also is necessary to the 
ermination of seeds ; it is for want of air 
lat seeds which are buried at a very great 
spth in the earth, either thrive but indif- 
GHI 
ferently, or do not rise at all. They fre- 
quently preserve, however, their germinat- 
ing virtues for many years within the bow- 
els of the earth ; and it is not unusual, upon 
a piece of ground being newly dug to a 
considerable depth, to observe it soon after 
covered with several plants which had not 
been seen there in the memory of man. 
Were this precaution frequently repeated, 
it would perhaps be the means of recover- 
ing certain species of plants which are re- 
garded as lost; or which, perhaps, never 
coming to the knowledge of botanists, 
might hence appear the result of a new 
creation. Light is supposed to be injurious 
to the process which affords a reason for 
covering seeds with the soil in which they 
are to grow, and for carrying on the busi- 
ness of malting in darkened apartments ; 
malting being nothing more than germina- 
tion, conducted with a particular view. 
GEROPOGON, in botany, a genus of 
the Syngenesia Polygamia fEqualis class 
and order. Natural order of Composite 
Semiflosculosa?, or compound flowers, with 
semi-florets or ligulate florets only. Cicho- 
racere, Jussieu. Essential character : ca- 
lyx simple; receptacle with bristle shaped 
chaffs ; seeds of the disk, with a feathered 
down of the ray, with five awns. There 
are three species. 
GESNERIA, in botany, so named in 
honour of Conrad Gesner, of Zurich, the 
famous botanist and natural historian, a 
genus of the Didynamia Angiospermia 
class and order. Natural order of Perso- 
nal®. Campanulace®, Jussieu. Essential 
character : calyx five-cleft, sitting on the 
germ ; corolla incurved and recurved ; cap- 
sule inferior, two-celled. There are twelve 
species. 
GETHYLLIS, in botany, a genus of the 
Hexandria Monogynia class and order. 
Natural order of Spathace®. Narcissi, Jus- 
sieu. Essential character: calyx none; 
corolla six-parted ; berry club-shaped, radi- 
cle, one-celled. There are four species. 
GEUM, in botany, English avens, or 
herb bennet, a genus of the Icosandria Po- 
lygynia class and order. Natural order of 
Senticos®. Rosace®, Jussieu. Essential 
character: calyx ten-cleft; petals five; 
seeds with a kneed awn. There are nine 
species, natives of Europe and North Ame- 
rica. 
GHINIA, in botany, so named in me- 
mory of Lucas Ghini, a famous physician 
and botanist of Bologna, a genus of the 
Diandria Monogynia class and order Na- 
