MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 1G5 



Some black walnuts were al.so buried at (liflei-eiit depths but 

 these and acorns were not [)ut in bottles. None of the walnuts 

 l)lanted deeply germinated. 



Dr. lieal made all the tests up to 1900, the thirtieth year. This 

 last fall, the tlurty-fifth year, I have endeavored to get germinations 

 from another set. So far, I have only been ]>artially successful. 

 You will notice from the table that out of the twenty-two in this 

 list, eight failed to germinate up to and after the fifth year. The 

 remaining species have germinated some years. Lepidium virgini- 

 cum has germinated every year. Probably this is also true of 

 Rumex crispus. 



In inducing the seeds to germinate. Dr. Beal obtained the best 

 results by moistening the sand, getting a few to come up and then 

 allowing the soil to dry out for a while, and then moistening it 

 again and so on. This was repeated at varying intervals for several 

 months. I have adopted the same plan and hope to get some more 

 to germinate. When the germinations w^ere started, a flat was 

 planted with similar seeds for checks on the seedlings. 



In closing, I shall quote Dr. Beal's opinion as to the behavior of 

 these seeds. ''It is to the advantage of the plants not to shoot 

 ui> all their seeds at one time, but to retain a good portion alive 

 in the soil ready for stocking the earth in successive years. Again, 

 we must consider that it makes very little difference v^hether all 

 the seeds live over for a time or only a small portion of those which 

 were ]U'oduced, as a living seed now and then left is enough to 

 sa-ve the stock and produce a new crop of seeds. 



