VOLUME LIX 



REPRINTED FROM LIBRARY 



New YOKK 

 THE BOTANICAL 



QAXD6N 



Botanical Gazette 



JUNE igis 



A STUDY OF DELAYED GERMINATION IN ECONOMIC 

 SEEDS 



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE HULL BOTANICAL LABORATORY 204 



Dean H. Rose 



(WITH ONE FIGURE) 



This paper presents the results of an attempt to discover some 

 of the practical problems that seedsmen and growers have to meet, 

 and to work out, so far as possible, practical methods of solving 

 these problems. The seeds tested were furnished by six of the 

 leading seed houses of the United States. 



In the present state of our knowledge it can be said that delayed 

 germination and poor germination are due to one or more of the 

 following causes: hard-coatedness, the need of after-ripening, 

 exclusion of oxygen by the seed coat, the effect of frost on seeds, 

 fungi on or in seeds, and of course the presence of seeds containing 

 dead embryos. 



Hard-coatedness 



The condition of hard-coatedness in the seeds of legumes is 



well known. To overcome this condition investigators have used 



hot water, chemicals, and mechanical devices for scratching or 



puncturing the seed coat. 



cm The use of hot water for forcing germination is undoubtedly 



v— older than the references to it in periodical literature. It was 



♦^recommended by Bruyning (6) in 1893 f° r seeds of Ulex europacus, 



__ 425 



