THE KANSAS UNIVERSITY 

 SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



Vol. XIIL] MAY, 1920. [No. 3. 



Moisture Requirements of Germinating Seeds.* 



BY RUPERT PETERS. 

 INTRODUCTION. 



IT HAS long been recognized that a close relation exists 

 between plant life and soil moisture. Common observation 

 showed our ancestors that wilting occurred when the moisture 

 content of the soil was markedly lowered and that death fol- 

 lowed when it was long continued, but it remained for the 

 twentieth century investigators to attempt the discovery of 

 the moisture conditions under which plants could best flourish 

 and those under which they wilted and died, as well as to point 

 out definitely the boundaries between these. But, even yet, 

 very little is to be found in the literature concerning the lower 

 limits of soil moisture in connection with plant growth. 



This paper is the record of an attempt to aid in the location 

 of the lowest boundary at which plants may be active, and is 

 concerned particularly with the relation of the wilting co- 

 efficient of the soil to the germination of seeds. An attempt 

 has been made to answer the question whether seeds can ger- 

 minate when the amount of soil moisture is so low that plants 

 growing in it wilt and die. 



The work w^as suggested by Dr. Charles A. Shull, then of 

 the plant physiology' laboratory of the University of Kansas, 

 now of the University of Kentucky. Most of the actual work 

 was done in the botany laboratory of the Northeast High 

 School, Kansas City, Mo,, near enough to be in frequent consul- 

 tation with Doctor Shull. It is but fitting that an appreciation 

 of his deep interest and kind suggestions be made here. Thanks 



* Received for publication March 4, 1920. 



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