GERMINATION. When a seed is placed in a situation favourable to vege tation, it very soon changes its appear ance ; the radicle is converted into a root, and sinks into the earth ; the plumnla rises above the earth, and becomes the trunk or stem. When these changes take place, the seed is said to germinate ; the process itself has been called germination, which does not depend upon the seed alone ; something external must affect it. Seeds do not germinate equallyand indifferently in all places and seasons ; they require moisture and a certain degree of heat, and every species of plant seems to have a degree of heat peculiar to itself, at which its seeds begin to germinate ; air also is necessary to the germination of seeds ; it is for want of air, that seeds which are buried at a very great depth in the earth either thrive but indifferently, or do not rise at all. They frequently preserve, however, their germinating virtues for many years within the bowels of the earth ; and it is not unusual, upon a piece of ground being newly dug to a considerable depth, to observe it soon after covered with several plants, which had not been seen there in the memory of man. Were this precaution frequently
repeated, it would perhaps be the means of recovering certain species of plants which are regarded as lost ; or which, perhaps, never coming to the knowledge of botanists, might hence appear the re sult of a new creation. Light is supposed to be injurious to the process, which af fords a reason for covering the seeds with the soil in which they are to grow, and for carrying on the business of malt ing in darkened apartments, malting be ing nothing more than germination, conducted with a particular view.