-64 



VIII. 



INFLUENCES OF LATITUDE UPON 

 THE SPROUTING OF SEEDS. 



Plants of high latitudes are more sensitive to heat and cold than 

 those of the same species growing nearer the equator, i. e. , they 

 start or vegetate relatively earlier in Spring. This subject has 

 been investigated in several directions, but, so far as the writer is 

 aware, it has not been pursued in this country in relation to ger- 

 mination of seeds. The following tests are incidental to this in- 

 vestigation, being a part of a general series of researches upon the 

 influence of latitude upon plants, but they are suggestive in this 

 connection. 



A sample of white dent corn was secured from the Alabama 

 Experiment Station, and samples of white and yellow dents were ob- 

 tained from the South Carolina Station. The germination of the.se 

 samples was compared with that of corn grown on the farm of this 

 University. 



50. Corn, from different latitudes, 50 kernels in each sample, 



sown one inch deep in 12-inch seed pans. (Fig. 7.) 



No. I, yellow dent {Pride of the North), from Ithaca. 

 No. 2, yellow dent, from South Carolina. 

 No. 3, white dent, from South Carolina. 

 No. 4, white dent, from Alabama. 



SOWN MARCH 1 9. 



Epitome. — Sprouting was much the most rapid in the New York 

 corn, but differences in totals were evidently not due to influence 

 of latitude. The difference in rapidity of germination was much 

 more marked than would appear from the table. The plants from 

 New York .seed were by far the largest and most vigorous of any 

 in the test during the month which they remained in the house. 

 The Alabama seed gave the least vigorous plants, while the South 



