The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-07

of Washington on the vitality of seeds.
 in which he explodes a fallacy which is believed by some scientists, the notion peing that seeds found in mummy cases ana tombs, and known to be several hun- dfed and even thousand years old will. If planted germinate The truth of the matter, he said. was that the vital energy or seeds expires quickly, so that the sto- res Whlch have gone the rounds about
 hgyptian wheat and prehistoric cliff dWeller corn germinating after a lapse of thousands of years were falsehoods pure and simple. Where or how they originated was a mystery, but, like every other scientific humbug. the story had as much vitality and longevity as the miraculous grain described. Some twen- ty years ago. he said, the British Asso- ciation for the Advancement of Science as result of the members seeing, hear ing and reading a great deal of this non sense about Egyptian wheat sprouting decided to investigate the matter thor oughly.
 The results of this investigation have only recently been made known. The as sociation eXperimented with the seeds of som 3S2 species. including wheat and corn and discovered that out of this en- tire lot there were only three or four species that would germinate after a pe- riod of fifteen years. Of the entire 3So species all were treated alike; that is to say. placed in dry. dark. and cool places where the conditions were exactly the same as in the case of the grain found in mummy cases. The great majority O. species lost all vitality after a period of four years. and the few that did germi- nate at the end of the fifteen year period produced very weak and feeble plants These were the seeds of very hardy and vigorous plants indigenous to desert countries, where the struggle for exist ence is very hard. and not wheat and corn. which were among the earliest to lose their vitality. Moreover. of the en- tire number of seeds of the three varie- ties which produced after fifteen years in storage only few produced plants.
 Alfalfa variety of forage plant grown extensively in desert regions (especially in Colorado and California;. and the seed of which is remarkable for its vi tality, had been preserved in alcohol and shut off from the air by an Italian sci enlist. who succeeded in raising a few plants from seed thus kept sixteen years, but the seed of the plant preserved in the same manner for seventeen. eighteen nineteen and twenty years did not ger minate, and such also was the experience of the British Association, which body found that not one of the 3S2 species would germinate after remaining in StOr- age for seventeen or twenty years. al- though they did succeed In obtaining a few sickly plants from seed of three spe- cies kept fifteen years As a result therefore, of these experiments. Mir Du- vel said that the longest period that any seed could be kept in storage and still germinate was fifteen years.
 In the discussion following the reading of MT. Duvel's paper, Dr. F. V. Coville botanist of the Department of Agricul- ture said that some years ago he also became interested in this problem, as a result of reading newspaper accounts of seed found in tombs of the prehistoric period germinating, and that while on q trip 10 Arizona he took the trouble to ob- tain from graves in one of the old cliff dwellers' cities some beans and other seeds which he was quite certain had lain there since the pre-COlurbian pc riod, and were at least 400 years old. More over. he said. the dry climate of Ari- zona was emnently adapted for pre- serving objects of all sorts, especially seeds so that if there was anything in the story these seeds. above all others should have germinated. They had, the doctor stated, every appearance of being sound but, for all that he planted them. watered them, and did everything that could be done to obtain germination. not one of them sprouted. and 'so this fallacy, along with many others, was laid in the dust.
 According to The Indianapolis News, if