20fi 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
[January 17. 
soil, and other seeds just below that surface, and 
care be taken to keep the former constantly moist, 
it will germinate just as speedily as the buried seed, 
and if exposed to tbe blue rays only of tbe spectrum, 
by being kept under a glass of that colour, even 
more rapidly. 
Therefore, the object of sowing the seed below the 
surface, seems to be for the purposes of keeping it in 
a state of equable and salutary moisture, as well as 
to place the radicle in the medium necessary for its 
growth into a root, immediately it emerges from the 
skin of the seed. M. Saussure, also, found that when 
the direct rays of the sun were intercepted, though 
light was admitted, seeds germinated as fast as when 
kept in the dark. 
Mr. Beaton, in a letter now before us, says, “It 
has been said, theoretically, that seeds would not 
germinate freely unless kept in the dark; but, in 
practice, we find it otherwise. I have tried experi¬ 
ments on all the common seeds of the garden, and 
found they would germinate in the light—that is, 
when laid on the surface of the ground. The con¬ 
ditions necessary to bring this about, are heat and 
moisture. In dry weather I found it expedient to 
place a hand-glass over seeds under this experiment. 
There are, besides, some instances where seeds re¬ 
fused to vegetate in the dark. The seeds of Arau¬ 
caria imbricata will not succeed if covered with 
earth. The small end of the seed is first fixed in 
pure sand, previously moistened, and the body of 
the seed is in the full light. So is it also with the 
seeds of the Deodar cedar, thousands of which have 
been lost when they were first introduced by the 
seeds being covered with earth when sown. I have 
also found the seeds of Pinus Oerardiana, P. Webbi- 
ana, &c., and, indeed, all the large seeded pinuses do 
better by merely fixing the point of the seed in sand. 
Foreign acorns—particularly the Mexican and North 
American kinds—succeed better if treated like those 
of the pinus and araucaria.” 
All small garden seeds — such as mustard and 
cress, cucumber, &c., &c.—may be made to ger¬ 
minate in a minute or two, in steam from a tea¬ 
kettle. The cotyledons, radicle and plumule, will 
develope, and instantly perish. 
A seed placed in a situation where it is supplied 
with the desirable degrees of heat, moisture, and air, 
begins immediately to enlarge in size. This is occa¬ 
sioned by its absorbing moisture, which, passing 
into the cotyledons, causes their immediate in¬ 
crease. The rapidity of this process is remarkable, 
and warns the gardener from disturbing the seed 
after it is once committed to tbe ground. A few 
choice peas, from which to raise stock, being sown 
accidentally in ground devoted to another crop, were 
removed after twenty-four hours, and were not again 
committed to the ground for some days. Not one 
! of them produced a fruitful plant, and only two or 
three vegetated. 
This is in no degree surprising, because in the 
■ majority of healthy seeds cultivated in our open 
ground departments, the embryo will be found swol- 
: len within three hours; within six hours the radicle 
j will be perceptible; in from one to six days the 
radicle will have burst the integuments of the seed; 
within from two to seven days the plantlets will 
have similarly escaped ; and in from four to twenty- 
four days perfect roots will have been developed, 
and the leaves appear above the surface. 
Moisture, as already stated, is absorbed, and causes 
the immediate enlargement of the parts of the seed; 
and this moisture, though it will, and does, penetrate 
through the surface of the skin, yet is chiefly im¬ 
bibed through the hilum or scar. It passes to the 
cotyledons, causing their enlargement, and sets in 
motion their elaborating powers for the nutriment 
of the radicle and plantlet; for if they are removed, 
or if they have been injured by insects, the seed does 
not germinate; and if they are removed even after 
the radicle is developed into a root, the plant’s vege¬ 
tation ceases. 
No sooner has the radicle escaped from the seed, 
than it immediately elongates in the direction of the 
matters most promotive of the future plant’s growth. 
If the seeds of carrots, parsnips, beets, and other 
tap-rooted plants are sown in a soil with its surface 
richly manured, and its subsoil deficient in such 
decomposing organic matters, the plants will have 
forked and abundant lateral roots, keeping within 
the fertile surface-soil. On the other hand, if the 
surface-stratum is only moderately rich—but some 
manure is trenched in with the bottom spit, so as to 
be about sixteen inches below the seed—the roots 
will strike down straight to this superior source of 
nutriment 
On the other hand, it has been said, that the roots 
of orchidaceous plants, grown upon wood only par- 
] tially charred, will be found to have their roots 
clamber up, and around, and along the wood, but 
always directing their course most numerously to¬ 
wards the charred portion. This, however, seems to 
be an error, for Mr. Appleby says that he finds or¬ 
chids unbenefitted by being grown on charred logs. 
Again, the seeds of the misletoe, placed upon the 
under surface of a bough, always have their radicles 
grow upwards to penetrate the bark, and thus secure 
to themselves the moisture, without which they could 
not exist. Lastly, if seeds of plants, loving a fertile 
soil, be sown along the partition, dividing a vessel 
into two portions, of which one portion is filled with 
rich earth, and the other with sand, though both 
portions are equally moist, equally loose, and equally 
warm, all the radicles will direct their course into 
the fertile soil. 
These facts, with many others, all demonstrating 
