Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-04-08

their nutritive functions. The endosperm,
with its supply of food, is not an infallible
constituent of seeds, but is often entirely
lacking. The embryo which is in fact a
miniature plant, with rudimentary organs,
is the one essential and most important
part of the seed. In dry seeds it is gener-
ally hard to distinguish the embryo, but If
the seeds be soaked it can be easily re.
moved from the endosperm and the seed
coats If we examine the embryo OF
seed lone containing large embryo, as the
pumpkin or squash seed, is best), three
parts will readily be distinguished. The
lower part, or what seems to be the begin
ming of the stem, and from which the roots
descend, is called the radicle. The as
cending axis of the stem. and which 10
surrounded by more or less perfectly de-
veloped bud, forms
THE PLUMULE.
This is the part of the seed from which
grows the stem of the plant with It's ap-
pendages. The plumule is clasped and
more or less inclosed by one or two rudi-
mental leaves. These are the cotyledons
of the endosperm, and are in structure per.
feet leaves, whose tissues are generally
filed with food for the Young plant These
cotyledons often remain under ground, and
thus can perform none of the functions OF
leaves. In others they are lifted out of the
ground by the ascending plumule. In such
cases, although they may sometimes I'M
perfectly perform the functions of leaves.
they generally, after their contents have
been appropriated by the young plant, be-
come effete There.is no reason why seeds,
if protected from oxygen, moisture and
insects, should not retain their vitality
Tor an ind finite period. But owing
to the impossibility of practically full
filing these conditions, all seeds may
be said to have a comparatively short
period of vitality. In general. the
to grow, and the larger they are the longer
they will retain their vitality. Also, as
general thing, the newer seed and the
more mature it is, the more vigorous will
be the growth of the plant but with this
increased vigor of growth there is longer
period of growth and often decreased
yield Of seed. This fact is taken advan-
tage of by the gardener and florist, who
respectively produces larger yields OF
vegetables and new varieties Of flowers by
planting old, and hence weak seeds. Plants
develop from these, which, instead of hav-
ing vigorous growth, spend compare
lively larger part of their substance IN
fruiting and towering. The degree of ma
turity of q seed also sensibly effects It's
offspring. If plants-wheat for instance
be cut before the seeds are ripe, and even
just before the starch is formed, the seeds
will ripen on the stalks, providing that
they are not dried too suddenly, and will be
CAPABLE OF TERMINATING.
As would be supposed, the proportion of
seeds ripened under such circumstances,
which would grow, would be less than if
they had ripened on the roots. Such seeds
also produce weaker plants, and in poor
soils often light crops. In rich soils, on
the contrary, they will generally give as
large yield as any other seed, and will In
addition ripen their seed in from one to
several weeks earlier than plants from fully
matured seed. That is to say, the matur-
ity of the seed being forced by separating
it from the parent root, it will in turn, half
intuitively, force its offspring to an early
maturity, seemingly so that it will be ma
tured before the remorseless farmer will
think of cutting it. The fact that inma-
turely cut seeds do ripen crops earlier than
other seed is of much more Importance than
is generally supposed. 1t deserves much
more attention from the practical farmer
than has heretofore been bestowed upon it,
and especially is this so in California, where
oftentimes if ten days could be gained by
the earlier ripening of the grain the farmer
could succeed in harvesting grain which
might otherwise be shriveled up and
almost ruined by an untimelY north wind.
If farmer can by reaping a few acres of
grain before it is fit to head, and leaving
it on the ground to ripen, procure seed
which will mature his crop even week
sooner the next season, it would most GER
tainly pay him much mora than the extra
cost of reaping, etc. johnson says of
wheat, that the seeds retain their vitality
for from three TO seven years. In speaking
of the relation between the density of the
seed and that of the product he says
"Q) That seed wheat of the greatest den
sity produces the densest seed. ~ That
seed wheat of the greatest density yields
the greatest amount of dressed grain. ~
That seed wheat of medium density gen.
orally gives the largest number of ears
but the ears are poorer than those of the
densest seed. ~ The seed wheat OF medi-
um density generally produces the largest
number OF fruiting plants. t5) The seed
wheats which sink in water but float in
liquid having a specific gravity of 247 are
of very low value, yielding, on an average,
but 81 pounds of dressed grain for every
100 yielded by the densest Seed
GERMINATIoN.
Almost everyone is familiar with the
general processes and conditions OF germina-
ton. These consist of burying the seed a
few inches below the surface of the soil,
when, if it meets the right conditions of
moisture and temperature, it will soon
sprout and begin to grow. 1t will be
profitable for us 30 notice a little more
closely the processes and condition OF
termination. II placed in medium where
they can be examined at fixed intervals,
and under the requisite conditions of
moisture and heat, the first change noticed
will be the swelling up Of the seed from
its absorption of water. The germ en-
larges and finally breaks the seedcoats.
The radicle first forces its way out, and is
soon followed by the plumule. The
tendency of the one is to bury itself in the
soil, hence it grows downward, while that
OF the other is to grow up into the atmos-
pheric light. The endosperm, as We said
before, sometimes remains below the sur
face, and in other plants rises above it and
becomes the first pair of leaves. The
growth of the plant takes place by the
growing and branching of the plumule, to
form the trunk, and the division and
sub. division of the radicle to form
the roots. In order that seed may
terminate three physical conditions must
be fulfilled ~ The temperature must be
sufficiently high, and not too high; ~
there must be certain amount of moist
ure available to the seed, in order that the
contents of the germ cells may be set in
motion-this is, brought about by the alb
sorption of water by the seed, which starts
the desired motion in the germ cells; 81
the seed must be in contact with free oxy-
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