REPORT OF TEE DIRECTOR 



37 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



EXPERIMENTS IN THE DECREASE OF VITALITY OF GRAIN 



THROUGH AGE. 



FIRST EXPERIMENT. 



In 1898, some experiments were begun to gain information as to the relative 

 decrease of vitality which occurs with age when the important cereals are kept under 

 jthe conditions which prevail in an ordinary office, the grains being stored in cotton 

 bags. 



Three varieties of wheat were used, Red Fife, Preston and Red Fern; three varie- 

 ties of oats, Banner, Prize Cluster and Scottish Chief; two varieties of barley, one of 

 two-row, Canadian Thorpe, and one of six-row Mensury; two of peas, Daniel O'Rourke 

 and White Marrowfat and one variety of flax. 



These samples, at the time of selection, were of high vitality, ranging from 81 to 

 100 per cent, and were plump and well-developed. 



In all these tests one hundred kernels have been used in each case, and the test 

 has invariably been made in the soil. The work of testing has been done under mj 

 supervision, by Mr. W. T. Ellis, who is a most careful experimenter and observer. 



The rapid decrease in the vitality of the wheat in the fourth year of testing is very 

 striking and is still more marked in the fifth year. The Red Fern is a very strong 

 growing sort, but why it should show a greater vitality than Red Fife or Preston I am 

 unable to suggest any explanation. 



With reference to the oats also, the decrease is not serious until the fifth year, but 

 the vitality falls quite low in the sixth and seventh years. The vitality of the two-row 

 barleys was very fully run out by the fourth year and was entirely exhausted on the 

 fifth. The six-row varieties show a much higher and more enduring degree of germin- 

 ating power. The same may be said of the peas. 



This series of experiments was carried on for seven years, from 1898 to 1904. 



Decrease in the Vitality of Grain with Age. 

 first experiment. 



