320 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
album), 2 germinated on the 6th day, and 2, 3, 2, and 1 at inter- 
vals between the 6th and the 145th, when 19 germinated. 53 ger- 
minated on the 351st day, and 27 on the 519th, then 2 on the 
874th, 3 on the 1082nd, and 3 on the 1173rd day, while 283 of the 
seeds still remained inert at the time last mentioned. 
Out of 400 seeds of the common plantain (Plantago major), one 
single seed germinated on the 1173rd day, while none of the others 
had either germinated or decayed. The seed which did germinate 
yielded a normal, vigorous plant which appeared to have lost 
nothing by the delay. 
Out of 400 seeds of St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) , 
one germinated on the 7th day, 2 on the 10th, and several others 
at intervals up to the 72nd day, after which none germinated until 
one on the 714th, 3 onthe 874th, and one on the 1082nd days ; 
in all 143% to this date. 
Of 400 seeds of shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa pastoris), 3 
germinated on the 5th and 3 on the 7th days, then none until the 
145th day when 4 germinated. Seven seeds germinated on the 
1173rd day, —in all 182% to that date. 
The fact of clover-seeds remaining uninjured in water is mani- 
festly of the same order as their power of resisting the digestive 
juices of animals, that is to say of passing through their intestines 
without having the germinative power impaired. It has often 
been observed that the dung of neat cattle, and of horses, which 
have been fed upon clover-hay will afford an abundant crop of 
clover in fields previously free from this plant, especially when 
care has been taken to distribute the dung evenly upon the land. 
The widely spread popular practice of treating the seeds of cer- 
tain leguminous flowering plants with boiling water, as a prelimi- 
nary to sowing the seeds, which prevail among gardeners and ama- 
teurs in this country as well as in Europe,* may evidently be 
classed among devices for overcoming the resistance of. the seeds 
to imbibition. The seeds to which this method is applied are, ac- 
cording to the usual practice, thrown into boiling water and allowed 
to cool in and with the water. They are then sown in the earth. 
The very fact that some kinds of seeds can withstand such severe 
treatment as this is emphatic evidence of their power of resisting 
* Compare Knop’s ‘‘ Agricultur-Chemie,” I. 526. Spallanzani and Her- 
schel dwelt upon the fact long along, as stated by Lyell in his ‘* Principles 
of Geology,” 8th edit., London, 1850, p. 599. 
