234 



From the appearance of the seed I suspected that it might 

 have been derived in such a way as to have been subject to 

 moist conditions or might possibly have been subjected to 

 moist conditions in transit: I would suggest that rubber 

 seed may be treated as an experiment with Bordeaux mixture 

 preparatory to placing- in the seed-bed, or with solution of 

 formaldehyde. All the conditions concerning the process of 

 germination should be sterile as far as possible, that is, the 

 seed should be sterilized, the seed-bed should be sterilized, 

 the files should be sterilized, the hands of the operators should 

 be disinfected and the bags under the seed separating it from 

 the horse manure used to assist in the germination should be 

 soaked in Bordeaux mixture. Possibly artificial heat would 

 be preferable to that obtained by the use of manure. Ordi- 

 nary chicken incubators might, perhaps, be tried. The boxes 

 used in the seed-bed should be sterilized with plenty of hot 

 water. The soil in which the seeds are to become established, 

 after starting to germinate, should also be sterilized. This 

 may be accomplished by bringing the soil to the boiling heat 

 in large kettles. Mix the soil with sufficient water to produce 

 thin mud and bring it to a boil. Afterwards dry the mud in 

 the sun. , : _i^| 



LOCAL SEED. 



In one instance where local seed was being tried a large 

 percentage of the seed failed to germinate. This was brought 

 about by the attacks of small earth worms in the soil in which 

 the seeds were planted. The sterile conditions indicated above 

 would prevent the attacks of these worms at least during the 

 very early stages of the plant's existence. 



All the worms of this class are sensitive to dryness. They 

 are found only where the conditions are moist. Under such 

 conditions, they are known to seriously injure crops of various 

 kinds and they sometimes exist in the soil in phenomenal 

 numbers, as many as 25,000 to 50,000 of them being found on 

 one square yard of ground. Though they feed, for the most 

 part, on decaying organic matter, some of them attack the 

 soft underground parts of living plants, such as the rootlets, 

 soft and succulent roots and underground portions of the 

 stem. It is evident that germinating seeds would be par- 

 ticularly attractive to such species as attack living plants. I 

 have had some experience with these worms in Australia 

 and have found that they can be fought best by taking advan- 

 tage of the weather. Such soils as contain these worms in 

 injurious numbers should be worked actively during the dry 

 weather. All the stages of the worms are injuriously afifected 

 by dryness. The adult worms and the egg-cocoons of the 

 young worms all quickly die as soon as they are deprived of 



