V R 1^ PACE 



Because of variation in the amount and quality of each year's crop 

 it is frequently necessary for seedsmen to carry ovim- larj^i^ (juantities 

 of seeds from one year to another. Such seeds often lose their al)ility 

 to terminate, and eith(>r are a loss to the seedsman or, if they are 



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marketed, cause still more serious losses to those who plant them. 

 Since 1899 Mr. Duvel has been engao-pd in a j;eneral investi«,aition of 

 the causes affectino- the vitality of seeds, with special reference to the 

 conditions under which they are stored connnercially. This investiga- 

 tion was beoun in 1S99 under the Dexter M. Ferrv Botanical Fellow- 

 ship at the University of •Michioan, and since September 1, 1902, it 

 has been continued by the United States Department of Agriculture. 

 An account of the whole study is presented herewith. 



The general method pursued has been to store seeds experimentally 

 under all sorts of conditions, and afterward to ascertain the exact per- 

 centage of germination. It is now possil)le to speak with precision of 

 the extent of damage caused by careless methods of storage, to express 

 in actual tioures the g-reater lial)ilitv of seeds to loss of vitality under 

 the warm humid conditions existing in the South Atlantic and Gulf 

 States tlnin under colder and drier conditions, and to demonstrate the 

 utility of storing seeds, when they must be kept in a humid climate, in 

 moisture-proof packages. A further investigation, i. e., of the extent 

 to which A-itality may be preserved by means of connnercial cold stor- 

 age, is now in progress. 



Frederick V. Coville, 



I^otanist. 



Office of Botanical Investigations and Experiments, 



Washinyton^ D. 6'., December 5^ 1903. 



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