104 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



curves around the trees (T) aud the shrubs (S), which seem to have 

 oeeu planted there by nature. A is the main road, four rods from which the 

 houses are situated; B is a private drive running to a house on the right of the 

 one in the figure. C is also a private drive. D is a drive running to the barn. 

 It passes a rear entrance door of the house where groceries, etc., may 

 be unloaded. The convenience of such a rear drive makes it quite worthy 

 •of consideration, when laying out the grounds of a residence. The house from 

 which the figure is drawn is situated upon a slight eminence; and the ground 

 slopes gradually from the house to the road. This is also a desirable thing to 

 secure when locating a house. Sloping ground has a more natural appearance 

 than flat ground. It also allows water to pass away readily from the building. 

 With an eye to these points we may as easily make a home which shall 

 possess beauty, convenience and naturalness, as one which does not. 



The last paper of the series was upon 



EXPERIMENTS UPON GERMINATION OF SEEDS. 

 BY THEO. A. STANLEY. 



According to the theory of germination, the carbon of the seed unites with 

 the oxygen of the surrounding medium forming carbon-dioxide, which is 

 evolved from the sprouting seed till the first leaves are formed. If by some 

 means the supply of oxygen can be increased, or made more active, might not 

 the germination of seeds be hastened? 



Chlorine passed through water unites with its hydrogen, setting free its oxy- 

 gen. Bromine does the same. Might not these substances furnish free oxy- 

 gen to unite with and draw out the carbon of seeds? Lime water seems to 

 have the power to draw the carbon from the seed. 



To find what effect, as compared with pure water, these different elements 

 have upon the germination of seeds I made the following experiments under 

 the supervision of Prof. L. H. Bailey, Jr. : Three weak solutions of chlorine 

 and bromine were made, their strength being represented by 1, 3-5, 1-5. There 

 were also made some very weak lime water and a very weak solution of oxalic 

 acid. These various solutions, also pure water, were put in separate bottles, 

 into which different seed^ were placed to soak, some for eight hours aud some 

 for twenty -four. The seeds were then placed on the surface of sand in small 

 flower pots and covered with glass to prevent too rapid evaporation. The pots 

 were placed in boxes of earth and kept moist by watering the earth about them. 



All this was done in the forcing house with no fire, and observations were 

 taken daily, morning, noon and night. As soon as a seed or seeds sprouted 

 record of the fact was made. These observations were continued until most 

 of the seeds had sprouted, but for sake of brevity the time when only the first 

 sprout appeared is here given.* 



In the table the column at the left shows the kind of solution and its rela- 

 tive strength. The other columns contain the number of days elapsing from 

 the time the seeds were removed from the solutions to the time when the first 

 sprout was seen. 



The blanks indicate that no seeds sprouted. 



* I might here say that at the time of experimenting, early in May, the weather was very unfavor- 

 able for the germination of seeds, and having no fire in the forcing house I had to do with what 

 little heat Nature gave. 



