— 33 



have been made in earth in shallow earthen seed-pans. These 

 pans are exceedingly convenient, and they afford good drainage. 

 In some cases, lily-pans have been used, but they differ from the 

 seed-pans only in their circular outline and somewhat greater 

 depth. Illustrations of seed-pans may be seen in Figs. 3 to 7. 

 For sowing seeds at uniform depths, two devices have been used. 

 The simpler of these, (Fig. i), is nothing more than a block 



of half inch stuff, two inches 

 wide, of the required length, 

 upon which is nailed a cleat 

 FIG. I. equal in thickness to the depth 



of sowing. The cleat is pressed into the soil evenly, and the seeds 

 are dropped into the furrow it makes. The other device, (Fig. 2). 

 may be called 

 the Tracy 

 planter.* It 

 consists of two 

 strips of heavy 

 tin plate nearly i'ig. 2. 



three inches wide, hung upon two wire pivots or hinges some 

 two inches long. At their upper edges and equidistant from 

 either end, the plates are joined by a firm spiral spring, which 

 serves to throw the upper edges apart, and to cau.se the lower 

 edges to join. This trough is now filled with the required num- 

 ber of seeds, and is then inserted into the earth to a given depth, 

 when the fingers push inward on the spring and the trough opens 

 and delivers the seeds. 



In this paper, the following points are discussed : 



I. Influences of temperature upon sprouting. 



II. Influences of varying amounts of water. 



III. Influences of soaking seeds before sowing. 



IV. Influences of soil. 

 V. Influences of light. 



VI. Influences of weight of seed. 



VII. Influences of color of seed. 



VIII. Influences of latitude. 



IX. Duplicate tests. 



X. Comparisons of tests and actual plantings. 



XI. Impurities in samples. 

 General Summary. 



* Mr. W. W. Tracy, of the firm of D. M. Ferry & Co., gave the writer 

 the plan for this implement. 



