440 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [june 



3 of the kinds, 50 per cent or more of the samples were below the 

 government standard of germination. Of garden seeds, for 16 of 

 the 26 kinds, 50 per cent or more of the samples were below stand- 

 ard. Mention should be made also of work by Brown (5) on the 

 germination of packeted vegetable seeds. He found that the 

 average germination of box vegetable seeds put up by 60 firms for 

 four years was 60.5 per cent. The lowest average for any firm 

 was 36. 5 per cent, the highest 81.5 per cent. The average germi- 

 nation of packeted vegetable seeds put up by 20 mail-order houses 

 in 191 1 was 77.5 per cent (lowest average 76.2 per cent, highest 

 77.5 per cent). Just what these figures signify is not clear. There 

 are three possibilities: (1) the seeds were poor because of the seeds- 

 man's dishonesty or carelessness; (2) the seeds were poor because 

 it is not possible with present methods to produce better ones; 

 if so, the government standard is, now at least, too high and methods 

 of production need improvement; (3) the seeds seemed poor 

 because present methods of making germination tests do not always 

 adequately determine the value of a given sample. In the writer's 

 opinion, the responsibility for low test must be shared about equally 

 by all three, though the first is a less important factor than it was 

 a few years ago. 



6. Plants whose seeds were found infected with fungi. — 

 Feather grass, asparagus, beggar weed, buckwheat, cardoon, celery, 

 chives, sweet clover, dill, kaffir corn, leek, millet, oats, parsley, 

 peas (12 vars.), pepper, radish, rosemary, spinach, thyme, vetch, 

 Aquilegia, Asparagus Sprengeri, Bignonia, Clematis, Cliantkus 

 Dampieri, wild cucumber, dandelion, Datura Golden Queen, D. 

 Wrigktii, Helianthus, hop, I pomoca (4 spp.), Lathyrus, lavender, 

 Nasturtium, pansy, sweet peas (4 vars.), Primula, Verbena, Abies 

 Merteiisiana, A. pectinata, Berbcris, Cupressus liorizontalis, C. 

 macrocar pa , C. pyramidalis, Picea excelsa. P.. Menzicsii, P. rubra, 

 Pinus auslriaca, P. Strobus. 



The species and varieties tested were 134, but 30 of these are 

 omitted from the second section of table IX; 29 of these germinated 

 rapidly and well, and one other, on account of bad infection with 

 fungi, showed not delayed but definitely poor germination; 69, or 

 51.4 per cent of the total, were found more or less infected with 



