STORAGE AND GERMINATION OF WILD RICE SEED, 9 



preparatory to storing. The storage room should be maintained at 

 a temperature just above freezing- — what the storage men usually 

 designate as the "chill room." 



When taken from cold storage in the spring the seed must not be 

 allowed to dry out before planting, as a few days' drying will destroy 

 every embryo. 



Seed which was stored under the foregoing conditions from October 

 19, 1903, to November 15, 1904, 393 days, germinated from 80 to 88 

 per cent. Another lot of seed, which was stored on October 6, 1904, 

 and tested for vitality on April 17, 1905, germinated 79.8 per cent. 



Plate I shows the luxuriant growth made by the seed which was kept 

 wet and stored at a temperature of 32° to 34° F. for 393 days. 



DETAILED CONDITIONS AND RESULTS OF STORAGE EXPERI- 

 MENTS. 



The foregoing conclusions are based on the results obtained from 

 two series of experiments, as follows: 



In October, 1903, a box of wild rice seed was received from Ontario, 

 Canada. This seed, as soon as gathered, was loosely packed in moist 

 sphagnum and sent by express to the Seed Laboratory of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. After a few da^^s, while it was 

 yet moist and before any fermentation had taken place, the seed was 

 divided into four lots for special treatment, as follows: 



(1) Seed submerged in water and placed in cold storage at a temper- 

 ature of 32° to 34° F. 



(2) Seed submerged in water and placed in cold storage at a temper- 

 ature of 12° F. The seed was soon embedded in a solid mass of ice 

 and remained so until samples were taken for test. 



(3) Seed, without the addition of water, put into cloth bags and kept 

 in cold storage at a temperature of 32° to 34° F. 



(4) Seed, without the addition of water, put into cloth bags and kept 

 in cold storage at a temperature of 12° F. 



In October, 1904, a second consignment of seed was received from 

 Minnesota, and the following additional storage experiments were 

 made by Mr. C. S. Scofield, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 



(5) Seed submerged in water and placed in cold storage at a temper- 

 ature of 32° to 34° F., as in No. 1. 



(6) Seed submerged in water and placed in cold storage at a temper- 

 ature of 12° F., as in No. 2. 



(7) Seed submerged in water in a galvanized-iron bucket and stored 

 on the roof of the laboratory building. The water was changed daily 

 when not frozen. 



