16 



VITALITY OF BURIED SEEDS. 



Table III. — Efsults of tests of seeds that IkhJ not completehi lost their litutitu vJ-'de 



' buried — Continued. 



Kind uf seed. 



Chamber tests. 



Tern- I Origi- 

 pera- nal 

 ture. sample. 



110 I 16218 I Alsine media 



nig 16243 i Abutilon abutilon. 

 1129 16189 Phleum pratense . . 



Average percentage of 

 germination 



° C. Pn- ct. 

 20-30 97 



Con- 

 trol. 



Per ct. 



Greenhouse tests in sand. 



Con- 

 trol. • 



Per ct. 



98. 5 1 93 



Depth of burial. 



6-8 18-22 36-42 

 inches, inches, inches. 



Per ct. 

 90.5 



Per ct. i JPer ct. 

 96.5 I 92.5 



63. 2 57. 5 



53.2 



20.5 



26.5 , 31 



o Man V had germinated and afterwards decayed. 



(,Fre*h sprouts found when samples were taken up. These sprouted seeds were not thrown away, 

 but were transplanted with the remainder of the sample and tested in sand in greenhouse, conse- 

 quently tho.se which prodiu^ed seedlings are included in the percentages of germination given in the 

 table. "These fresh sprouts were found as follows: 



oClipped seed germinated, 59 per cent. , " 



^Clipped. 



<■ Germinated. 84 per cent at 20° C. 



/Clipped seed germinated, 100 per cent. 



{/Tests interrupted. 



In Table 111 the names of the seeds are arranged in the order of 

 their vitality as determined by the germination tests made in the 

 greenhouse. The list of seeds tested begins with Fedaca elatior 

 (meadow fescue), which showed only one viable seed, that being from 

 the 18 to 22 inch depth, and ends with Alshie media (common chick- 

 weed), in which nearly all of the seeds retained their power of germi- 

 nation throughout the entire period that they remained in the soil. 

 The germination of the latter, when sown in the greenhouse, was 

 ahnost perfect. (See PI. II, fig. 1.) 



In many instances some of the seeds had germinated while they were 

 buried. In most cases the seeds which had germinated afterwards 

 decayed. In the larger seeds this could usually be determined with- 

 out much difficulty, but with many of the smaller seeds no such obser- 

 vations could be made. However, it is more than prol)a])le that many 

 of the smaller seeds which showed a low' germination when traii.^- 

 planted in the greenhouse had germinated and afterwards decayed 

 before being dug up, but this could not l)e .satisfactorily determined 

 bv a hurried field examination. Many of the pots also contained U-qAx 



