204 
Doctor Darwin observes in his Phytologia, “ Cncumbers and melons are 
best if kept for some time, as they therefore shoot out less vigorously, and 
thence become more fruitful. But this principle may be carried too far* by 
some gardeners, who say these seeds cannot he too old , and even assert ten 
years to be a proper boundary. Hence it is new seeds come up sooner 
and with greater certainty, and grow more luxuriantly.” 
The durability, or dormant vital power in some seeds, is hardly to be 
calculated. In the Bath Society’s paper, vol. v. p. 404, there is an account 
of the seeds of Indian wheat, which grew extremely well after having been 
kept upwards of thirty-four years, as was accurately ascertained. Some 
seeds in an herbarium, an hundred and twenty years old or more, have 
been made to germinate by moistening them first in the oxygenated mu¬ 
riatic acid.f 
Concerning the vitality of seeds, says Professor Barton, I have little 
hesitation in supposing that different kinds of seeds, if imbedded in stone or 
dry earth, and removed far from the influence of air and moisture, might be 
made to retain their vegetative quality for a thousand years. The growth 
of plants in places newly dug up, not witnessed for centuries, J seems to 
confirm this opinion. “ If the ground in old established botanic gardens,” 
says Dr. Smith, “ be dug much deeper than ordinary, it frequently happens 
that different species which have been long lost are recovered, from their 
seeds being latent in the soil, as I have been assured by Mr. Fairburn, 
superintendant of Chelsea garden, and others.” 
* Peas and beans will germinate very well at seven years of age; but the smaller seeds, as those 
of lettuce and kiclney-beans, Mr. Marshall says, in his Treatise on Gardening, are not to be depended 
upon after the first year. 
f Vide Experiment X, p. 81 of this volume. J Vide page 39 of this volume. 
