522 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



In the changes of organic constituents analyses were made foi- ether extract, 

 fiber, pentosans, and sugars before and after inversion. The largest amount of 

 ether extract was elaborated by the seedlings grown in nitrate and in phosphate 

 solutions. The percentage of fiber in the axes of the plant was approximately 

 the same, irrespective of the liind of solution in which the plants were grown. 

 In the case of the pentosans, at the end of the fifteenth day there was a some- 

 what larger amount in the axes of plants grown in nutrient solutions than in 

 the control, but in the results obtained it does not appear that nitrates form 

 any larger amount of pentosans than is formed by potash or phosphoric acid. 

 During the process of growth the formation of reducing sugar in the seed 

 was found to increase rapidly up to the fifth or sixth day; after this time 

 there was a rapid falling off in the reducing sugars until at the end of 15 

 days there was but a trace of this substance in the residual seed. In the axes, 

 however, reducing sugars increasetl up to about the ninth day. when they con- 

 tained about 3 times as much of the sugars as the original seed did of hydro- 

 lyzable sugar. After this period there was a gradual decrease of reducing 

 sugars, even in the axes, until the fifteenth day, when the amount present ap- 

 proximated that of the hydrolyzable sugar originally present in the seed. The 

 total amount of hydrolyzable sugar never exceeded that originally found in 

 the seed, indicating that either the hydrolyzable sugar is translocated as such 

 from the seed or that it is hydrolyzed before translocation occurs. No x'educ- 

 ing sugar was present at the beginning, but on the fifth day it had increased 

 to twice the total hydrolyzable sugar originally present. Whether the sugars 

 found in the axes are due entirely to the hydrolysis of the starch of the seed 

 and subsequent translocation into the axes, or whether a part of these sugars 

 was a result of assimilation, was not determined. 



On the biochem.ical side of carbon dioxid assimilation by green plants, V. 

 Grafe (Biochcm. Ztschr., 32 {1911), No. 2, pp. 114-129).— This is a general dis- 

 cussion of the photosynthetic process, especially with reference to the pres- 

 ence, origin, and use of formaldehyde in green plants. It contains a review of 

 various investigations and experiments on this subject and on the effect of 

 formaldehyde on green plants (E. S. R.. 25. p. 434). 



The selective power of plants for dextrose and levulose, L. Lindet {Bid. 

 Soc. Chiin. France, 4. scr., 9 {1911)), Xo. 9, pp. Jf25-.i29). — Previously noted from 

 another source (E. S. R., 25, p. 320). 



On the role of nucleoprotein in plants, W. Zaleski {Ber. Dent. Bot. Qesell., 

 29 {1911), No. 3, pp. 146-155). — In a study of this subject the author determined 

 the amount of nucleoprotein in the leaves of Tilia taken in different stages of 

 growth, in the etiolated seedlings of Zea mays in different stages of germination, 

 in the seeds of Vicia faha germinated in darkness, in the etiolated seedlings of 

 wheat in various stages of growth, and in other plants. 



From these investigations the conclusion is reached that nucleoprotein con- 

 sists of formative material which takes part in the building up of the proto- 

 plasts of the plants. 



The physiolog'ical importance of manganese and of aluminum in the vege- 

 table cell, J. Stoklasa {Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci- [Parish, 152 {1911), No. 20, 

 pp. 134O-I342). — The author gives the results of experiments on plants grown 

 in liquid cultures and in pots of certain amounts of salts of manganese and 

 aluminum. When 1/2,000 of the atomic weight in grams of manganese and 

 of aluminum was added to culture media the plants made the highest yields, 

 and of all the organs of the plants the leaves showed the largest quantities of 

 both salts. It is, therefore, believed that these 2 elements not only take part 

 in assimilation processes, but may also play an important role in the photo- 

 synthetic process. 



