The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1878-08-21
TERMINATION or SEEDS.


taken from a paper on the subject by
Prof w. J. Beal, Of Michigan Agri-
cultural College, who has furnished
us copy:
''To terminate, seeds require air or
oxygen of the air, certain amount of
moisture and warmth, or a certain
temperature. II either one of these
is not within certain limits, seeds will
not grow. The presence or absence
of light is Of little Importance. In
terminating, a seed looSes some Of
it's materials. 1t absorbs moisture,
but of the materials of the dry seed,
one-half may be converted into water
and carbon dioxide. The seed lives
Oh it's own resources until it begins
to form chlorophyll. After it is once
started the young plant sometimes
grows faster by day, and sometimes
faster by night. 1t cannot grow but
little time, however, without some
daylight. Most seeds may be dried
and kept without injury for a variable
length of time Some, however will
not grow if once they become quite
dry. Among these are seeds of the
chestnut, horse chestnut, willow, and
coffee.
Gardeners would not usually SOW
seeds Of onions, or parsnips if they
knew them to be more than a year
old. Some Of them might grow,-all
Of them might grow OF certain sea
sons, but probably most of them
would fail, or would produce feeble
plants. Whether seeds retain their
vitality for longer or shorter time
depends much on the manner of
cleaning and keeping them. The
temperature should not vary too sud-
denly. Seed catalogues sometimes
state the time it is safe to keep each
variety of seed and still be quite sure
it will terminate. For two years,
they usually give pepper, carrot, egg
plant, satisfy for three years, aspara-
gus, lettuce, radish for four years,
cauliflower, cabbage, celery, tUrnip;
for longer length of time. beets, Gu
cumbers melons, squashes, tomatoes.
The above are given as a guide in
keeping dry. seeds. If buried in
moist earth, some seeds will keep
for many years without losing their
vitality. Accurate experiments are
waiting to settle the time Of keeping
seeds in this manner. / have known
seed of red clover and OF certain
weeds to keep for dozen years or
more when buried six inches or more
below the surface of the soil. In
some recorded experiments, seeds OF
wheat, rye, and chess failed to GROW
when they had been kept dry for lS5
years. When kept for 80 years, seeds
Of the sensitive plant and some 9TH
or leguminous plants have been
known to grow Lindley says the
seeds of melons have been known to
grow at the age Of 10 years, kidney
beans at hundred, aud rye at 10
Londet and Haberlandt, in 1861,
found that seeds Of wheat, rye, barley,
oats and maize would not grow if
fhey had been kept for ten years at
least, these seeds did not germinate
in the experiments they tried.
Weak seeds produce weak plants.
This has been shown time and again.
The seeds way be weak on account
of small size, or because they were
immature when gathered, or be-
cause their vitality had been impair
ed by keeping a long time after they
were gathered, or by keeping them in
an improper place rs to moisture, or
great extremes of heat and cold
Most seeds Will grow il they are not
fully ripe, as most farmers know is
the case with corn and wheat
As a rule, the 1eeblest specimens OF a
lot Of seeding ornamental plants are
most likely to produce the choicest
flowers. This is true in case of bal
sans. primroses, and many others.
Light seeds sprout quicker, but
produce weaker plants. Prof Church
If the Royal Agricultural College
England, found That seed wheat Of
The greatest density produces The
.lensest seed and yields the greatest
amount Of dressed grain, The seed
wheat of medium density generally
riyes the greatest amount Of ears
but the ears arc poorer than those o
the densest seed. Seeds of medium
density also produce the largest mum
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