SEEDS WEEDS. 881 



Forest fires ( Forestry and Trrig., 10 I 1904), No. 11, pp. 582-584, fig. /).-— A record 

 is given of the forest fires during the month of October, L904, the damage reported 

 being confined largely to Montana and California. The disastrous fires of Oregon 

 and Washington, reported in the previous month, were checked by heavy rains. 

 The loss in Oregon due to the forest (ires during September and < >ctober is placed at 

 $8,000,000. 



Timber seasoning stations ( Forestry and Trrig., 10 {1904), No. 11, p. 494).— The 

 Bureau of Forestry has made an agreement to carry on timber seasoning tests in 

 Wisconsin and Michigan in cooperation with two telegraph and telephone companies. 

 The object of the experiments is to determine how many years can be added to the 

 life of poles by proper seasoning. The expense of the experiments will be borne 

 jointly by the Bureau of Forestry anil the companies interested, and two railroad 

 companies have agreed to haul the poles to the testing stations without charge for 

 freight. 



SEEDS— WEEDS. 



Some errors in seed testing, II. Rodewald ( Arb. Devi. Landw. Gesell., 1904, No. 

 101, pp. IV— 117). — The author reports on some errors in the system of seed testing 

 adopted by the German seed control stations. He has conducted an extended series 

 of experiments to test the rules, and the errors are classed by him as "occasional" 

 or "accidental " and "systematic" or "fundamental." lie shows by many examples 

 the effect of a strict application of the rules, and how the errors may be greatly 

 increased by using formulas based on wrong data. 



Resistance of certain seed to the action of absolute alcohol, P. Becquekei, 

 (Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. [Paris'], 188 {1904), No. 19, pp. 1179-11S1).— The author 

 reviews the work of Giglioli (E. S. R., 7, p. 406), showing that alfalfa and clover 

 seeds artificially dried retain their germinative power after having heen submitted 

 for a long time to the action of absolute alcohol, as well as alcoholic solutions of 

 corrosive sublimate. 



The experiments of < iiglioli in a modified way have been repeated, the author in 

 this case using wheat, peas, beans, clover, and alfalfa. All the seeds were divided 

 into 4 lots, one of which was imperfectly dried, just as it comes from the granary, 

 but the seed coats were left intact; the second had the seed coats perforated; the 

 third lot was soaked in water for 2 hours, while the fourth lot remained as a check. 

 The M lots of seed were kept in absolute alcohol for 8 days, after which they were 

 placed in a germinating chamber and kept at a temperature of 28° C. 



After remaining in the germinating chamber 4 days the seeds were examined, ami 

 all the wheat, pea, alfalfa, and clover seed whose integuments had remained intact 

 were germinating. The others whose integuments had been perforated or which 

 had been soaked in water were dead. The only exception to this was in the case of 

 the beans, and these the alcohol had penetrated through the hilum, destroying their 

 germinative power. 



From the experiments reported it appears that the moist seed coat promotes 

 osmosis and is penetrated by the alcohol. On the contrary, when dried to a certain 

 extent, the seed coat becomes impermeable to any anhydrous liquid, and as a conse- 

 quence is protected against anhydrous solutions of corrosive sublimate or other poisons 

 and absolute alcohol for an indefinite time. 



The permeability of seed coats of certain seeds to gases, P. Becquerel 

 {Compt. Rend, .{•■ml. Sri [Paris], 138 {1904), No. ..'.'. pp. 1347-1349).— Following up 

 the investigations of a number of experimenters on the permeability of the seed coats 

 of certain seeds, the author has devised a means of testing by reduced pressure the 

 permeability of seed coats of peas, beans, lupines, honey locust, etc., to various gases. 



