COMPARISON OF METHODS OF STORING AND SHIPPING. 45 



Gij^lioli" j^oes so fur as to say: 



Tliere is no reason for denying the poHsihility of the retention of vitality in seeds 

 pre^Tved (hiring many centurie?, such aw thoMnnuny wlieat and seeds from Pompeii 

 and llerculaneum, provided that these seeds have l)een preserved from tlie l)egin- 

 ning in eonditions unfavorable to chemical change. * * * The original dryness 

 of the seeds and their preservation from moisture or moist air must be the very 

 lirst conditions for a latent secular vitality. 



Some of the earliest suooe.stions for storino- seeds in ([uaiitity were 

 made l)y Clement and Fazy-Pasteur, and were reported by Auo-. l*yr, 

 De Candolle in his Thysiolooie Veo-etale. Clement suooested the use 

 of laroe cast-iron receptacles, made impervious to aii" and water, the 

 well-dried seeds to be poured in through an openinj^ at the top, after 

 whicii the openint4- should be hermetically sealed and the seeds with- 

 drawn throuoh :in iron pipe and stopcock at the bottom of the taid<. 

 The scheme of Faz3'-rasteur w^as to store seeds in wooden boxes well 

 covered with tar. This method was especially applicable to small 

 ([uantities of seeds, and was used to a limited extent at that time, but, 

 so far as has been ascertained, it has lono- .since been discarded. The 

 keepino- of seeds in laro-c iron tanks, as su<^o-ested by Clement, has 

 never l)een practiced to an}^ extent. It seems (pate possible, liowever, 

 that the present "tank" o;rain elevator, now so universally used, mioht 

 readily be modified in such a way as to make the method suo-gcsted by 

 Clement quite practicable. 



THE NECESSITY FOR THOROUGHLY CURING AND DRYING SEEDS. 



In addition to bein<^ well matured and carefully harvested, seeds 

 should be thoroughly cured and dried before being put into the stor- 

 age bins. Much better results would be obtained if such seeds were 

 artiticially dried for several days in a current of dry air at a tempera- 

 ture not to exceed 35° C. With this method of dr3dng, from 2 to 4 

 per cent of the moisture usually present in air-dried seeds is expelled. 

 The accompanying contraction of the seed coats makes them more 

 impervious to the action of moisture, and consequently the seeds are 

 better prepared for storing and shipping. Experiments made with 

 cabbage, lettuce,- onion, and tomato seeds gave results as follows: The 

 average loss in weight of the air-dried seeds, after an additional dry- 

 ing of 30 days at a temperature of 30° to 32° C. was 2.79 per cent. 

 Yet these same seeds, when kept for -40 days in the laboratory, reab- 

 sorbed only an average of 0.91 per cent of moisture. Like quantities 

 from the original sample gave only the slight variations ordinarily met 

 with, due to the humidity of the atmosphere. Thus seeds, when once 

 carefully and thoroughly dried, will not regain their original weight, 

 provided they be kept in a dry room. 



"Nature, 1895, 52: 544-545. 



