Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1875-01-08
Duration of Seed Vitality.

THE question of the duration of the
vitality of seeds is one of much Interest
to science but one which has received az
yet little help from exact observation
1t is known that the seeds of many plants
may be kept without injury for several
years. The conditions most favorable
for their preservation are dry at
mosphere and low temperature. Wher
buried deeply in dry, hard soil seeds
have been known to retain life for ar
untold length of time. DR.. Carpenter
relates in his work on vegetable Physi
ology" that west of Stirling, England
some workmen were ditching in clay
soil which had been covered with four
teen feet of peat. A clergyman stand
ing by observed seeds in the clay thus
thrown to the surface, which he secured
and planted. They terminated and pro
duced species of chrysanthemum. II
is impossible to estimate the time which
these seeds had lain in the ground
while their covering of clay and the
fourteen feet OF peat-earth was slowly
accommodating over them; but it must
have been an enormous period.
1t is on record by DR.. Lindley that
raspberry seeds taken from the stomach
of a man who had been buried with the
coins of the Emperor Hadrian, and
whose skeleton was found thirty feet be.
low the surface at the bottom of bar.
row or ancient burial-place near Dor
chester, terminated in the Horticultural
Garden, where they were planted. II
was computed that these seeds were
1000 or 100 years old at the time OF
their recovery. ..&
Forty miles from the sea-coast in the
State of Maine well was sunk to the
depth of twenty feet, when layer of
sand was struck which was in it's char
acter unlike any sand nearer the sea-
beach. When drawn up from the well it
was placed in pile by itself. In the
course OF a year or two this sand was
covered with growth of strange plants,
which proved to be beach-plum trees.
No trees of the kind had ever been seen
in the vicinity before, or indeed anywhere
except upon the sea-shore. The conclu-
sion to which probability tends is that
the plants grew from seeds that had been
buried for ages in the stratum of sea-
sand pierced by the diggers.
1t is also stated by DR.. Carpenter, from
whom we have the preceding particulars,
that seeds found in the herbarium of DIR.
Tournefort, a French botanist, were
found to retain their vitality after the
lapse of century. The stories of the
growth of corn and wheat from grains
buried with Egyptian mummies are not
accepted as authentic evidence, as in
these cases there has been opportunity
for the practice of deceit by the Arabs
who had the handling of the bodies.
From a series of curious experiments
in floating seeds upon salt water, and
immersing them in it, DR.. Darwin infers
that the seeds of one-tenth of the plants
of any flora could be foated across a
sea 900 miles wide without losing their
vitality. He found that a few seeds
survived immersion in salt water 1877
days. Dried hazel-nuts foated ninety
days, and afterward terminated. Ripe
asparagus berries foated eighty-ive
days, and proved to be unhurt. Peas
are quickly destroyed by salt water, but
some taken from the crop OLA dead
pigeon that had fioated thirty days were
uninjured, The crops of birds do not
harm seeds, and the harder sorts will
pass safely through the digestive organs
of even a turkey. DIR. Darwin raised
two beet-plants from seeds that had been
in the stomach of bird of prey for two
days and fourteen hours. = Chicago
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