Germination of Seed as Affected by Sulfuric Acid Treatment 321 



With the foregoing results in mind, it is evident that for many samples 

 of leguminous seed good results are obtained by the acid treatment. It 

 seems possible to devise a method for the treatment of seed on a large scale : 

 that is, seed which shows on testing that there is present a large amount 

 of hard seed, may be treated by the bushel without any great difficulty 

 and thus the germination may be increased. 



weed seeds 



Various kinds of weed seeds are usually found mixed with the clover 

 and alfalfa seeds of commerce. Some kinds of these seeds are similar 

 in appearance to the commercial seeds, being thus difficult to distinguish 

 or separate from them. Black medick and yellow trefoil are of this class. 

 Other kinds can be easily distinguished in appearance but are difficult to 

 remove. Of this class are the seeds of the dodders, plantains, docks, 

 wild carrot, old-witch grass, daisies, and the like. 



It was thought to be of interest and perhaps of value to determine the 

 effect of concentrated sulfuric acid on these various weed seeds. In 

 case they were killed by such treatment, those difficult to separate could 

 then be done away with by this means. Accordingly tests were made, 

 the results of which are shown in Table 15. 



It is there seen that the seeds of black medick and of yellow trefoil are 

 slightly injured by acid treatment, but even a treatment of two hours 

 was not sufficient to kill more than three fourths of the seeds in any case. 

 The acid treatment, then, is of no value in removing these seeds from 

 commercial seed. 



It is fiu-ther seen in Table 15 that the germination of the seed of field 

 dodder was hastened and increased by the acid treatment, the best ger- 

 minations being here obtained after two hours in concentrated sulfuric 

 acid. It is rather disappointing to find this to be true, since dodder is a 

 very noxious weed. The seed of daisy, wild carrot, and bracted plantain 

 were all killed by a 15 -minute treatment with concentrated sulfuric acid. 

 The seed of sorrel, curled dock, and old-witch grass, were all killed by a 

 60-minute treatment with concentrated sulfuric acid. These facts may 

 be of some commercial importance. 



cotton seed 



While the effect of concentrated sulfuric acid on the seeds of legumes 

 was being studied, the question arose of using acid for delinting cotton 

 seed and then testing the germination. It was thought that if the seeds 

 were not injured by the acid treatment they might be delinted in this 

 way, so that they could be more readily separated into light and heavy 

 seed and handled much more easily in planting. 



