Page:On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae.djvu/30

 6 long days of summer, too much light and heat prevents many seeds from sprouting kindly.

Some of those seeds which are covered with hard shells, such as Protea Argentea and others, do not always vegetate the first year after sowing; on the contrary, an instance has been known of a bag of seeds furnishing a succession of young plants for many years, and it is hoped that the particulars of this curious circumstance, may be in some degree amusing. Nearly twenty years ago a respectable friend of mine, had the good fortune to obtain about a quart of the seeds of Protea Argentea which had been procured at Cape Town by a trading Captain, to feed the turkies, on board his ship; part of these were sown in two pots, and in order to forward the growth of the seeds, one pot was placed in a hotbed, with cucumbers, where it remained during summer, without the least signs of growth in the seeds; the other pot was placed in a cool situation, where several plants made their appearance, and became tolerably strong by the autumn, when in transplanting the plants, the remaining seeds appeared fresh as when first sown, and on examining those sown in the hotbed, they proved the same, which gave cause to the whole being washed and carefully preserved until the following spring, when they were again sown and placed in a cool situation: more plants made their appearance during summer, but as the seeds did not all vegetate, they were again examined, and being found fresh, they were washed, and preserved as before: thus with a few additional ones, an annual sowing was continued, and a regular supply of young plants obtained, for many succeeding years; and the experiment shews, that those hard shelled seeds may be preserved for many years, and should never be thrown away, without previously examining them with care; but I think the whole family have a great dislike to be sown in artificial heat.

These seedling pats must have air admitted freely, when it is