1886.] EFFECT OF RED LEAD, El'C, ON GERMINATION. 563 



60 and 70 marks (£3 to £3, 10s.) every year. On the other hand, 

 Oberfoerster Paedel announces his experience of the uselessness of 

 red lead as a protection against birds. 



Booth ascribes the want of results, observed by Oberfoerster 

 liiedel, to the process of the colouring. A too slight coating with 

 red lead seems not to save the seeds from the birds. Booth colours 

 the seeds in the following manner. He moistens them slightly, but 

 as equally as possible, with water, and pours red lead upon them. 

 He stirs them and shakes them until they are all completely red 

 witli the colour of a boiled lobster. Yon Alton stirs, in the vessel 

 in which tlie colouring is to be done, a thin mixture of water and 

 lialf a kilogrannne of red lead. He pours 7 kilogrammes of seed 

 into it, and on to the seed he sprinkles another half kilogramme of 

 dry red lead. The vessel is then shaken until the seeds are equally 

 coloured. The drying lasts about two hours. The following method 

 we have found to be the best for colouring. In a broad vessel a 

 mixture of water and 1 kilogramme of red lead is kept stirred, the 

 mixture being not too thick. Into this 7 to 8 kilogrammes of seed, 

 in portions of 2 kilogrammes at a time, are shaken, the vessel being 

 kept continually in motion. Each succeeding portion of fresh seed 

 will not be added until the previous portion has been equally 

 coloured. The colouring is completed when a few seeds thrown in 

 take on no colour. The red lead which adheres as a slimy coatino- 

 to the bottom of the vessel must be scraped off with a wooden 

 spoon and mixed with the seed. The seeds require no special drying : 

 they are ready for immediate sowing, and will not form into balls. 

 The price of red lead is on an average about 9d. per kilogramme, so 

 the cost of colouring a kilogramme of seed comes to be about 1-^d., 

 including manipulation. 



Eegarding the effects of red lead as a preservative against birds 

 and mice, no experiments have as yet been made by us ; but 

 accounts received from various quarters give a prevailing sound in 

 its favour as a preservative. It seemed, however, to us not 

 unimportant to test the effect which red lead exercises on the seed 

 itself and on the progress of germination. The more so, as opinions 

 on this subject are divided. Booth has remarked absolutely nothing 

 on any influence of red lead on germinative vitality or on length of 

 time in germinating. Neither has Kiedel made any observations on 

 this head, though it may be gathered that " the coloured seed-corns 

 germinated more slowly on the nursery beds." According to 

 Humboldt, the seeds appeared to germinate well, the red lead being 

 rich in oxygen. 



Our experiments taught us in the first series that the red lead 

 delayed the commencement of germination about one day. Further, 



