48 
PLANTING BULBS [chap, hi. 
of that kind, which had formerly grown on 
its banks, but which had been cut down many 
years previously. Another instance occurred 
in the case of some raspberry seeds found in 
the body of an ancient Briton discovered in 
a tumulus in Dorsetshire. Some of these 
seeds were sown in the London Horticul¬ 
tural Society’s Garden at Turnham Green, 
where they vegetated, and the plants pro¬ 
duced from them are still (1839) growing. 
Numerous other nearly similar instances, will 
be found in Jesse's Gleanings , Hooker's Bo¬ 
tanical Miscellany , and numerous other works. 
Steeping seeds in oxalic acid, &c. to make 
them vegetate, is efficacious; as there is a 
speedier combination between the carbon in 
the seeds, and the oxygen in the acid, than 
can be effected by the ordinary agency of 
the air in parting with its oxygen to them. 
Planting bulbs and tubers bears consider¬ 
able analogy to sowing seeds. The bulb* 
or tuber may indeed be considered as only 
a seed of larger growth, since it requires the 
combined influence of air, warmth, and 
moisture to make it vegetate, and then it 
throws out a stem, leaves, and roots like a 
