524 EXPEEIMENT STATION EECOED. 



liminaiy notice of which has been given elsewhere (E. S. R., 25, p. 128), and 

 summarized as follows : 



"(1) Prolonged solid freezing will injure many plants and parts of plants 

 which are not hurt by 2.5° (C.) of frost. (2) Mechanical damage from loss 

 of turgidity and brittleness of frozen members is great. (3) Hard freezing is 

 far more destructive to our native woody plants than to our herbaceous vegeta- 

 tion. (4) Woody plants recover from hard freezing very slowly and produce 

 very abnormal growth for the season in which it occurs." 



Cheniical protection of plants against freezing, N. A. Maksimov {Zhur. 

 Opytn. Agron. {Russ. Jour. Erpt. Landw.), 13 (1912), No. 1, pp. 1-26). — This is 

 in substance the same as a report previously noted (E. S. R., 27, p. 333). A 

 more extended report with the more general conclusions reached is promised. 



Germination of seed as affected by sulphuric acid treatment, H. H. Love 

 and C. E. Leighty {New York Cornell Sta. Bui. 312, pp. 293-336, figs. 9).— The 

 results are given of a study of the effect of sulphuric acid to hasten the germi- 

 nation of hard leguminous seed. Concentrated acid, with a specific gravity of 

 about 1.84, was used, and seeds of red, white, alsike, sweet, and Japan clover, 

 alfalfa, several weeds, and cotton were subjected to the influence of the acid 

 for various periods of time. 



The authors found that increased germination was secured by treating all 

 the seeds with concentrated sulphuric acid. The effect of the treatment was 

 still apparent after the seed had been allowed to dry before germination. Many 

 varieties of weed seeds commonly foimd in samples of clover or alfalfa seeds 

 were killed by the acid treatment, while the germination of others was either 

 benefited or nt)t at all affected. Cotton seed was easily delinted upon treat- 

 ment, and the germination increased and hastened. 



The method of treatment for different quantities of seed is described and 

 consists essentially of subjecting the seed to sulphuric acid for from 15 to 45 

 minutes at ordinary room temperature, after which the seed is thoroughly 

 washed. It may or may not be allowed to dry before planting. 



The influence of the seed upon the size of the fruit in Staphylea, II, J. A. 

 Harris (Bot. Gaz., 53 (1912), No. 5, pp. 396-.'il.>t, fig. l).—ln continuation of 

 work previously noted (E. S. R., 27, p. 231) new data were obtained by the 

 author, the conclusions from which may, in the main, be summnrized as follows: 



There is a very substantial interdependence between the number of seeds and 

 the fruit length of Staphylea, higher than that between the number per locule 

 and length, and in large measure independent of the influence of the number of 

 ovules. Mechanical gtretching by pressure of adjacent seeds as a factor seems 

 to be excluded. In general, the facts observed are thought to warrant the con- 

 clusion that the interdependence between the number of seeds and the length of 

 fruit in Staphylea is a direct physiological one and that the two characters 

 stand in some degree in the relationship to each other of cause and effect. 



Some points in the morphology and physiolog'y of fasciated seedlings, T. 

 Reed (Ann. Bot. [London], 26 (1912), No. 102, pp. 389-J,02, figs. 5 ) .—Investiga- 

 tions on the seedling plants of various species of Leguminosae were carried on 

 to determine some of the facts relating to fasciation. The seeds were germi- 

 nated in soil, and when the plumular shoots had developed about an inch or so 

 the apical bud was cut away and the seedlings allowed to resume their growth. 



Two types of seedlings were used, the hypogeal and the epigeal types, but 

 fasciations were induced only in the former class. The hypocotyl of hypogeal 

 seedlings was found to become fasciated as the result of adherence of a number 

 of fasciated shoots. The food reserves in the two types of seedlings may be 

 similar chemically, but the availability of the food differs. Hypogeal seedlings 



