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102 BOTANY FOR BEGINNERS. [Ch. XVI. 
bles, however, there is no germination until after the opening of 
the pericarp and the fall of the seed. Thetime at which differ- 
ent species of seeds, after being committed to the earth, beg’n 
to vegetate, varies from one day, to some years. The seeds ot 
grasses, and the grain-like plants, as rye, wheat, corn, &c. ger- 
minate within two days. Cruciform plants, such as the radish 
and mustard, the leguminous, as the pea and bean, require a 
little more time. The peach, walnut, and peony, remain in the 
earth a year before they vegetate. 
425. All kinds of plants germinate sooner if they are sown 
immediately after being separated from the pericarps, than if 
kept some time. 
426. The seeds of most vegetables preserve their living prin- 
ciple for years: some lose it as soon as they are detached from 
their pericarps. This is said to. be the case in the coffee and 
tea. ‘The seeds of some of the grasses, as wheat, &c. are said 
to retain their vital principle even for centuries. It is asserted 
that mosses, kept for two hundred years in the herbariums of 
botanists, have revived by being soaked in water. 
427. An American writer} says that “ seeds, if imbedded in 
stone or dry earth, and removed from the influence of air ot 
moisture, might be made to retain their vegetative quality or 
principle of life for a thousand years.” But headds, “life isa 
property which we do not understand: yet life, however feeble 
and obscure, is always life, and between it and death there is a 
distance as great as existence and non-existence.” 
428. Before commencing the study of botany, when you 
looked at the trunk of a tree, a little herb, or a leaf, you proba- 
bly considered it very simple in its structure; you saw it only 
as one mass; but you now perceive that plants, like animals, 
consist of collections of fibres; that they have parts which in 
some respects are like our skin, bones, flesh, and blood; that 
they are living organized beings, and like animals, are subject 
to life and death. 
429. Plants differ from animals, in possessing none of the or- 
gans of sense. They can neither see, hear, taste, smell, nor 
+ B. Barton. 
425. Is it better that seeds should be kept sometime before they are 
sown ? 
426. Are seeds alike with respect to retaining their living principle? 
427. What is remarked by an American writer respecting the life 
of seeds ? 
428. Do you regard plants now in the same manner as before you 
began to study them 2? 
429. How do plants differ from animals, and how do they resemble 
them? 
