Dear Darwin

I have just received Ed 2 of Fertilization of Orchids which is most welcome, as I had lent Ed 1. till I had lost it—& was hard up for a copy.¹

The Hoya seeds have not germinated & were I expect imperfect as regards the Embryo— I wish I had examined them.²

Wheat brought by Nares from Smith’s sound when the Polaris left it some 5 years ago has germinated splendidly.³ I am now planting a lot of various seeds which I sent out & which have been exposed to cold of -60^o – -70^o. A grain of Maize that was with the Polaris wheat has also grown   this being properly a tropical plant is remarkable— What a rum thing living protoplasm must be, so quickly to decompose in some seeds & resist change in others. That the freezing of its watery constituent (if it water is a constituent) should not affect its vitality is very wonderful.— A good man might make a splendid thesis on “vitality” in the abstract.

Jas Salter has been writing to me about another series of experiments on burying seeds—but I do not think he is prepared to carry it out in any but a crude form—⁴ I should be disposed to attack the problem in another way—viz to experiment on means of prolonging vitality of seeds which are notoriously short-lived   I have just knocked off another Edition of Primer corrected & improved—(the third 10,000) & am busy at new Ed. of Student’s British Flora, a horrid job.⁵

It seems an age since I have heard of you all.

Ever affy yrs | Jos D Hooker