| → seeds 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| kinds of seeds 1872 |
|
| → as far as 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| OMIT 1872 |
|
| → infer anything 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| conclude, as far as anything can be inferred 1872 |
|
| → we may conclude 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| OMIT 1872 |
|
| → any 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| plants of any 1872 |
|
| → to a favourable spot 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| OMIT 1872 |
|
| → they 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| to a favourable spot, 1872 |
|
| → floated 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| of different kinds floated 1872 |
|
|
for above 28
and some of the 18 floated for a very much longer period. So that as
→seeds
germinated after an immersion of 28 days; and as
with ripe fruit (but not all the same species as in the foregoing experiment) floated, after being dried, for above 28 days,
→as far as
we may
→infer anything
from these scanty facts,
→we may conclude
that the seeds of 14/100
of
→any
country might be floated by sea-currents during 28 days, and would retain their power of germination. In
Physical Atlas, the average rate of the several Atlantic currents
33 miles per diem (some currents running at the rate of 60 miles per diem); on this average, the seeds of 14/100 plants belonging to one country might be floated across 924 miles of sea to another
and when stranded, if blown
→to a favourable spot
by an inland
→they
would germinate. |
|
| Subsequently to my experiments, M. Martens tried similar ones, but in a much better manner, for
placed the seeds in a box in the actual sea, so that they were alternately wet and exposed to the air like really floating plants. He tried 98 seeds, mostly different from mine; but he chose many large fruits and likewise seeds from plants which live near the sea; and this would have favoured
average length of their flotation and
their resistance to the injurious action of the salt-water. On the other
he did not previously dry the plants or branches with the fruit; and this, as we have seen, would have caused some of them to have floated much longer. The result was that
of his seeds
→floated
for 42 days, and were then capable of germination. But I do not doubt that plants exposed to the waves would float for a less time than those protected from violent movement as in our experiments. Therefore it would perhaps be safer to assume that the
|
