33 
immediately, will generally take a year or two to germinate; but if a pit be dug, and 
the bottom filled to a foot deep with sand, the seed spread thickly on this (2 in. to 
6 in.) and covered with another foot of sand, and the whole mass well watered, it will 
be found, on opening it at the expiration of three or four weeks, that germination has 
already commenced. If it now be taken out and sown, it will spring up almost 
immediately, provided it be kept well watered."* 
There is a very beautiful western tree called the " Gruie " or " Colane " and 
whose botanical name is Owenia acidula. Its fruit is a drupe, and its seed is enclosed 
in a " stone " (putamen), so excessively hard and thick that most people who try, 
fail to germinate it. Such a fruit as this (and there are others) can be best treated by 
such a method as that described in regard to Indian Teak. 
The experience of a friend with " Gruie " seeds or fruits, was as follows. He 
brought a sugar bag of them home and planted some of them in the ordinary way, but 
failed to germinate them. In disgust, he threw the whole lot away alongside a log 
in a paddock near the house. He forgot all about them, but eighteen months or two 
years afterwards he accidentally observed that quite a number of them had germinated. 
He potted them up, with excellent results. This character of delayed germination is 
of course very useful to a tree which, like the Gruie, lives in very dry country. 
The throwing away of the seeds as rubbish near a log is another method of 
treating them as Teak seed is treated. Many others of our native trees have seeds 
which require treatment that is not definitely ascertained, as in the case of seeds 
which have long been in cultivation in European gardens. There is still much room 
for experiment in this direction. 
Seeds which, when ripe, have tough or hard coverings, can often be germinated 
with facility if they be collected just before the casing has begun to be tough. Wattle 
seed, for example, has often been germinated before its outer casing has had time to 
toughen, but it is obvious that seed in that stage is very liable to injury, and the method 
cannot be recommended for experiment except to those who are skilled in such work, 
and who will handle the seeds with especial care, especially if they have to be 
transmitted to a distance. Such seeds have to be planted as soon as collected, as they 
are especially liable to shrivel, and, when they loose their moisture, they become 
worthless. Indeed they cannot be stored unless quite ripe, and the covering of the 
seed quite tough and hard. 
Fully ripened Wattle or other hard seeds require special treatment. The 
following has been proved to be a good method. 
Make a box with sides 9 inches deep, that an ordinary sheet of corrugated iron 
will cover, fill the box with sandy soil to the depth of 6 inches, soak well before 
sowing, and place in the hottest part of the propagating ground, the heat and humid 
atmosphere confined in the remaining 3 inches of air space rarely fails to bring about 
the germination of the hardest seeds. 
* Amery, " Notes on Forestry," p. 20. 
