The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-24

in Colorado and California; and the seed
 of which is remarkable for it's vitality
 had been preserved in alcohol and shut off from the air by an Italian scientist
 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 storage for seventeen twenty years, although 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, MT. Du- vel said that the longest period that any seed could be kept in storage and still germinate was fifteen years.
 Tn the discussion following the reading of MT. Duvers paper, Dr. F. V. Coville, botanst of the department of agriculture, said that some years ago he also became interested in this problem, as a result of reading newspaper accounts of seed found in the tombs of the prehistoric period ger minating. and that while on a trip to Ar- zona, he took the trouble to obtain from graves, in one of the old cliff-dweller cit- ies, some beans and other seeds which he was quite certain had lain there since the pre-Columbian period, and were at least 400 years old. Moreover, he said the dry climate of Arizona was eminently adapted for preserving 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 ap- pearance of being sound" but for all that he planted them, watered them, and did everything that could be done to ob- tain germination, not one of them sprout- ed, and so this fallacy along with many others was laid In the dust.
 During the meeting Professor W. J. McGee arose and asked MT. Duvel to state the exact status with regard to wheat found in mummy cases, and said to have germinated after so many hum dreds of years He wished to know whether this particular phase of the sub ject had received the proper attention from men of science. and if so what were
 the results. MT. Duvel stated that it had, both in Berlin, Germany, and by a French investigator In both cases the findings were the same The Frenchman, he said, had found that the wheat taken from
 mummy cases of the period of 30O-5O0 B. c. had every external appearance of soundness, and that, upon investigation. he had also discovered that the starch contents of the seed were unaltered, but that the embryo, the life of the plant.
 the tiny sprout within the seed, was in every case dead, and would not germin- ate on trial.
 The French investigator had therefore done what was even more wonderful than the newspaper accounts of 1000 years old wheat germinating- He had | taken some of the grains of this mummy case wheat; cut out the dry embryo, and
 inserted in their places live embryos of | fresh wheat Thus altered and planted.
 every one of the grains had germinated and grown. The live embryo of the fresh wheat had, in this case germinated, and l had drawn it's primary nutrition from the