H06 ClvkEAI.S 



From the results summarised in the table it is evident that the seeds 

 had, generally sj^eaking, germinated badly, but that freezing for 72 hours 

 had not affected their germination capacity. This experiment therefore 

 proves that it is needless to protect seeds kept dry against frost, as frost only 

 impairs the germination capacity when the seed contains an abnormal 

 (excessively high) percentage of water. It may also be concluded that 

 by drying the seeds artificially not only is their keeping power increased, 

 but their germination capacity is maintained, especially if the seed was 

 wet at the time when harvested. 



II. — Investigations on the mode of determining the germination capa- 

 city. While the method now employed for determining the purity of beet 

 seeds gives fairly accurate and concordant results, the determination of 

 the germination capacity hitherto has remained rather defective as is shown 

 by the relatively large differences in the results of experiments. It was 

 consequently proposed to study this latter question, endeavouring in parti- 

 cular to ascertain whether, for determining the germination capacity, blott- 

 ing paper or sand gives the best results. Among the samples studied in 1913 

 by the seed test Station of the " Landeskulturat " of Bohemia, 26 t}^ical 

 samples were chosen for comparative determination of the germination 

 capacity on blotting paper and on sand, alwa3^s using 100 fruits of each 

 kind in 3 sets of experiments. 



It results that blotting paper is better than sand. In 20 samples on 

 blotting paper (77 per cent, of the cases) the germination capacity was better 

 than on sand ; in 9 samples the number of germinated seeds exceeded that 

 of the samples on sand by i to 5 per cent; in 10 samples the percentage was 

 6 to 10 per cent,, and in i sample 11 to 13 per cent. The same germination 

 capacity on paper and on sand was observed in 2 samples (8 per cent of the 

 cases), while the germination capacity was onl}' greater on sand than on 

 paper in 4 samples (15 per cent of the cases). 



The results speak still more clearly in favour of the paper on considering 

 the number of germs. Among the 26 samples studied, 23 (88 per cent, of the 

 cases) gave a larger number of embryos on blotting paper than on sand and 

 only in 3 samples (12 per cent, of the cases) did the fruits give a larger num- 

 ber of embryos on sand. 



Analogous results were obtained in 1914. 



It is concluded from these experiments that determination of the ger- 

 mination capacity on paper gives better results than on sand ; it is therefore 

 recommended that test Stations should discontinue the sand method in 

 favour of the blotting paper method. 



.S59-The Wheats of the State of Washington, U. S. A. — .schafer e.g. and g.\ines e. f. 



in Stulc Cdllciic of Wasliiiii^ton, Ai^ricullHral ExpcrimoU Station, Pullman Washinsilon, 

 Bulletin, No. 121, 16 pp., 2 fig. Pullman, Wa., I'ebruary 1915- 



In the State of Washington, many kinds of wheat are cultivated, most- 

 ly introduced into that region, but partly native, and resulting from the 

 different conditions of environment in the various parts of the State. Mix- 

 ing the different wheats in the fields or on the markets causes a reduction in 

 price, and it is therefore desirable that the number should be limited and 



