The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-05-14
RED WHEAT 5000 YEARS OLD.
The Seed Contained Life After SO Long a
Period.
Period.

New York, April 28.-Some recent
experiments in growing red wheat
from seed certainly 5000 and perhaps
nearer 1000 years old have set me
thinking about subject which just
now engages the attention Of every
lover Of nature. The seed mentioned
vas found enclosed in the cerements
of mummy of the period of the
Twentieth Dynasty. During the long
period since about 1888 B. G. this
wheat had remained dry and to all ap-
pearances as dead as the Egyptian
upon whose bosom it rested as an en-
blem of Immortality. Each grain was
as hard as a grain Of silica. That the
germ of life could remain SO many
centuries unqucnchcd and ready to re-
spond to the influences which quicken
the fertile seed into fruitful activity
seemed impossible. However, l
planted the grains, watcrcd and tend
cd them as might the seed of ordi-
nary nasturtiums, and 10 the tall stalk
shot up and in due course was crown
ed with tassle Of bronze grain, prob
ably the wheat Of the Chaldean plains
where that cereal is indigenous. All
this was not essentially more wonder
full than the familiar phenomena Of
the spring season, when the seed
which nature scatters about with so
prodigal hand bursts the rotting en-
velope which cncloses tie precious
germ of life and rcproduces after its
own kind, with only such variation az
may reflect the immediate environ
ment. One may sentimcntalize upon
such happenings very chcaply, but
perhaps more profitable employment
Of time would be found in assuming
the miracle and studying the process
es by which it materializes.
PHENOMENAL GROWTH OF PLANT.
The phenomena Of plant growth are
among the most beautiful in nature.
DR.. Asa Gray, Of Harvard, tells US
that many seeds refuse to germinato
after the second year; that some may
be kept for considerable periods with
out losing their vitality; that sensi-
tive plants have been grown from seeds
known to be over sixty years old; but
that stories of seeds growing that have
been preserved 1000 or 5000 years in
Egyptian mummies "are not to be be-
lieved." !" / might be less willing 10
discredit myself on such excellent
scientific authority if the fragment Of
mummy from which took the seed OF
my experiment had not only come to
me not only well authenticated,\ but
obviously genuine. Had it happened
to DR.. Gray to have had an experience
like mine he would have considered
the stories by which this apparent i'm
mortality of the wheat kernel is at
tested not only credible, but extreme
ly well authenticated.
GROWTH OF THE SEED.
With the growth Of seed into
plant the soil has really very little to
do. 1t is little more than q retainer
of moisture and q medium to absorb
heat and maintain an cquabe temper
ature. The germ probably takes moth
ing from it at first, and does not need
the strong food of its soluble elements
until it begins to build up its plant
fibre independent of the structure of
the sustaining seed. The period at
which it begins to reach out for food in
the elements Of the soil capable Of as
similation probably varies in different
plants.
Tie infant plant can no more ex-
tract nourishmcnt from the ground
and digest it than human infant
could subsist upon garden vegetables
and fruits. Its proper nourishmcnt is
found in the seed itself. Packed
away within it is Il quantity of matter
of milky or jclly.likc consistency