144 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  15,  1901 
of  the  valley,  about  400  yards  distant,  and  with  a  similar  result  as 
to  the  appearance  of  at  least  several  plants  of  Broom,  but,  as  yet,  no 
Furze.  Possibly  sufficient  time  has  not  elapsed  for  the  germination  of 
the  seeds  amongst  the  ddbris  and  soil  excavated  ;  possibly,  however, 
Furze  may  not  have  grown  on  that  side  of  the  valley  previously. 
In  addition  to  the  foregoing  examples,  I  have  taken  the  trouble  to 
collate  several  other  instances  regarding  this  interesting  subject  from 
various  sources,  and  trust  I  shall  not  be  accused  of  plagiarism  if  I 
quote  one  or  two  instances  gleaned  from  the  gardening  press,  and 
which  may  prove  interesting  to  the  readers  of  the  Journal.  The 
tradition  of  the  mummy  Wheat,  however,  has  long  become  every¬ 
body’s  story  ;  but  the  assertion  that  mummy  Wheat  has  germinated 
after  many  centuries  has  not  been  substantiated.  It  is  said  that  it  is 
the  common  practice  of  the  Arabs  to  sell  fresh  Wheat  rolled  in  Nile 
mud  to  give  it  the  same  mouse  colour  of  true  mummy  Wheat.  This) 
of  course,  readily  grows.  Seeds  which  are  rich  in  oil  do  not  retain 
their  vitality  so  loDg  as  those  rich  in  starch ;  hence  those  of  the 
Brassica  family,  which  are  rich  in  oil,  do  not  survive  so  long  as  cereals* 
but  the  latter  are  said  to  lose  their  vitality  after  ten  years  at  most’ 
according  to  modern  experiments.  Those  of  leguminous  plants  may’ 
however,  survive  after  several  decennia.  The  late  Mr.  George  Bond, 
when  head  gardener  to  the  Earl  of  Powis  at  Walcot  Park,  in 
Shropshire,  stated  that  when  at  Kew  Gardens  as  artist  there,  he  was 
given  some  seeds  of  a  Pea,  and  having  kept  them  in  an  envelope 
for  nearly  half  a  century  in  an  apparently  fresh  condition,  promised  to 
sow  them  and  report  the  result,  but  I  could  never  learn  that  he  did  so. 
The  power  ol  different  species  of  seeds  preserving  their  vitality 
is  very  variable  ;  some  have  been  known  to  retain  their  germinating 
powers  for  many  years,  in  any  part  of  the  world,  and  almost  under 
any  circumstances.  In  Lindley’s  “  Introduction  to  Botany  ”  it  is 
stated  that  “  Melon  seeds  have  been  known  to  grow  when  forty-one 
years  old,  Maize  thirty  years,  Rye  forty  years,  the  Sensitive  Plant 
sixty  years,  and  Kidney  Beans  100  years.  Clover  will  come  up  from 
soil  newly  brought  to  the  surface  of  the  earth,  in  places  in  which  no 
Clover  had  been  previously  known  to  grow  in  the  memory  of  man, 
and  I  have  at  this  moment  three  plants  of  Raspberries  before  me  which 
have  been  taken  from  the  stomach  of  a  man,  whose  skeleton  was  found 
30  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  earth,  at  the  bottom  of  a  barrow  which 
was  opened  near  Dorchester.  He  had  been  buried  with  some  coins  of 
the  Emperor  Hadriar,  and  it  is  therefore  probable  that  the  seeds  were 
sixteen  or  seventeen  hundred  years  old.” 
One  of  the  most  curious  instances  is  the  case  of  the  London  Rocket 
(Sisymbrium  Irio).  It  appeared  abundantly  in  London  after  the  great 
fire,  and  then  disappeared,  and  was  said  to  be  the  only  plant  the 
seed  of  which  suivived  that  ordeal.  A  few  years  ago  the  writer,  when 
on  a  visit  to  the  Botanic  Garden  at  Oxford,  was  shown  a  small  plot  of 
the  London  Rocket,  preserved  as  a  memento  of  that  dire  event.  The 
London  Rocket  is  said  to  still  exist  at  Berwick-on-Tweed,  where  it  is 
found  on  some  rubbish  heaps.  Rubbish  had  constantly  been  carted 
on  to  the  diffeient  fields  around,  but  the  Rocket  never  appeared  in 
them  ;  but  in  1847  a  large  quantity  of  earth  was  taken  from  one  of 
the  fields,  where  the  Irio  was  never  known  to  grow,  and  used  to  make 
the  embankment  on  which  the  station  of  the  North  British  Railway 
partly  stands.  The  Irio  grew  up  in  front  of  the  bank  in  great 
profusion  immediately.  It  did  not  remain  many  years  in  that 
particular  spot,  but  it  is  reported  that  it  still  at  times  appears  on 
other  parts  of  the  railway  embankment,  otherwise  it  is  quite  confined 
to  the”  rubbish  heaps.  See  Johnston’s  “  Botany  of  the  Earlitr 
Empire.” 
Ihe  writer  has  a  distinct  recollection  of  a  statement  in  a  contem¬ 
porary  about  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  to  the  effect  that  amongst 
the  celebrated  Oaks  at  Apethorpe  in  Northamptonshire,  where  one  of 
them  was  blown  down  by  a  strong  wind,  a  most  singular  circumstance 
occurred.  A  single  plant  of  Cvnoglossum  montanum — a  plant  which 
did  not  previously  appear  in  the  neighbourhood — came  up  amongst 
the  decayed  fragments  of  wood.  Many  seedlings  from  this  were 
produced  the  following  year,  but  it  soon  vanished  altogether.  Another 
instance  of  the  prolonged  vitality  of  seeds  was  that  in  which  an  old 
Rhododendron  bed  produced  a  thick  crop  of  Foxgloves  after  lying  in 
dormancy  for  probably  half  a  centuiy.  The  peat  was  brought  from 
the  Mendip  Hills,  where  the  Foxgloves  grow  in  abundance. 
A  somewhat  similar  circumstance  occurred  in  connection  with  a 
Furze  fox  cover,  and  which  was  converted  into  pasture,  a  state  it 
remained  in  for  thirty  years  or  morep  it  was  then  deeply  cultivated^ 
and  the  following  season  a  crop  of  Furze  sprung  up  over  the  whole 
field.  Numerous  other  instances  might  be  cited  of  a  more  or  less 
similar  character  regarding  the  marvellous  lengthened  vitality  of  seeds, 
and  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  common  Coltsfoot  (Tussilago 
Farfara,  the  only  British  species,  aud  the  existence  of  which  indicates 
a  clayey  soil),  frequently  appears  upon  the  sides  of  newly  made 
railway  cuttings,  and  which  had  not  previously  appeared  in  the 
locality  ;  whilst  also  the  well-known  Charlock  (Sinapis  aivensis)  has 
repeatedly  been  known  to  vegetate  thickly  after  being  buried  below 
the  surface  of  pastures  for  an  indefinite  long  period  of  time. 
I  opine  that  in  the  foregoing  instances  sufficient  evidence  has  been 
adduced  to  prove  the  fact  that  the  seeds  of  some  kinds  of  plants- 
retain  their  vital  powers  for  indefinite  periods  of  time,  provided  the 
conditions  are  favourable,  but  what  the  exact  conditions  are  has  never 
been  absolutely  ascertained.  Sufficient  data,  ho  *  ever,  has  been 
afforded  to  prove  that  the  principal  conditions  are  uniform  temperature, 
moderate  dryness,  and  exclusion  of  light.  On  the  other  hand^ 
germination  of  seeds  cannot  take  place  without  the  combined  act  on 
of  water,  heat,  and  atmospheric  air  (or  at  least  oxygen).  With 
regard  to  the  non-presence  of  heat,  it  is  on  record  that  a  field  of 
Wheat  buried  under  an  avalanche  fi  r  twenty-five  years  proceeded  on 
its  growth  as  soon  as  the  snow  had  melted. 
With  regard  to  the  comparative  absence  of  atmospheric  air, 
Potatoes  below  3  feet  do  not  vegetate,  at  6  inches  they  grow  quickest* 
and  at  2  feet  are  retarded  two  or  three  months.  The  scepticism,  however,, 
which  naturally  obtains  as  to  the  alleged,  or  otherwise,  wonderfully 
enduring  vitality  of  certain  kinds  of  seeds,  may  be  extended,  when  it 
is  also  stated  that  it  is  on  record,  “a  bulbous  root  found  in  the  hand 
of  a  mummy,  above  2000  years  old,  produced  a  plant.”  Any  sub¬ 
sequent  information  of  this  wonderful  long-incarcerated  specimen  of 
the  vegetable  kingdom  has  not  been  recorded  in  the  annals  of  the  old 
century. — William  Gardiner. 
London  and  its  One  Tree. — When  we  plant  trees  in  London, 
why  should  they  almost  always  be  Planes  ?  This  question  was  asked 
in  our  columns  recently,  and  it  was  shown  that  both  Aspens  and  the 
Ash  in  the  isolated  instances  of  their  plantation  have  borne  the  long 
drought  and  the  tremendous  storm  of  a  fortnight  ago  with  exemplary 
fortitude,  while  the  Planes  are  already  strewing  the  ground  with 
brown  and  yellow  leaves.  It  is  no  use  attempting  to  take  a  matter 
of  this  sort  to  the  Office  of  Works,  who  will  merely  tell  you  that 
Planes  have  come  and  Planes  must  stay ;  so  a  “  Westminster 
representative  betook  himself  to  the  shady  foliage  of  Hyde  Park,, 
and,  finding  a  foreman  gardener  busily  “planting  out”  on  the  fringe 
of  Park  Lane,  asked  his  opinion  on  the  subject.  He  agreed  that 
London  ought  to  have  more  trees.  He  was  inclined  to  contend  that 
the  Plane  tree  was  the  tree  for  squares  and  broad  thoroughfares  in 
our  large  cities.  There  is  no  better  tree  to  endure  the  smoke  and 
atmosphere  of  London  ;  it  has  large  deciduous  leaves  and  a  smooth, 
whitish  bark,  impervious  to  dirt.  He  pointed  out  this  fact  and  referred 
to  the  splendid  Planes  in  Berkeley  Square  and  Russell  Square,  not  to 
mention  those  on  the  Embankment,  whioh  had  grown  so  fast  it  was 
necessary  to  thin  them  every  year.  “  But  why  not  the  Ash,  the  English 
Sycamore,  the  Aspen,  or  the  Poplar  ?  ”  he  was  asked.  “  You  have  them 
all  in  the  Park ;  why  shouldn’t  they  flourish,  say,  in  Piccadilly  ?  ” 
He  shook  his  head  doubtfully,  but  said,  “  I’m  not  so  sure  that  the 
Ash  wouldn’t.  It’s  true  the  Ash  prefers  a  loamy  soil,  but  it  will 
grow  in  almost  any,  and  sucoeeds  in  situations  too  exposed  for  any 
other  tree  save  the  Plane.  But  the  Aspen,  though  it  grows  quickly, 
would  better  stand  the  Scottish  cities,  and  the  English  Syoamore  is 
really  the  Greater  Maple,  though  it’s  often  confused  with  the  Plane.’* 
One  sorrowfully  gathered  that  experts  regard  it  as  impossible  to  expect 
that  the  same  species  of  tree  will  flourish  in  Kensington  Gardens  and  in 
Holborn.  And  yet  on  the  Conti - ;  but  that  is  an  old  story. — 
|  (“  Westminster  Gazette.”) 
