164 



Physiological Pre-deterinination 



2. Seeds sown in a poor sandy soil. 

 60 seeds sown in each experiment. 



the riper seeds ; this result was due to the larger percentage of germination 

 in the case of the ripe seed. 



In a parallel series of growth experiments conducted in very poor 

 sandy soil, however, an effect of the degree of ripeness of the seed under 

 these unfavourable growth conditions became visible in the yield per 

 plant as well as in the total yield, better plants on the whole being 

 produced from seeds gathered in the later stages of maturity. 



The results obtained by Lucanus are borne out by those of Nowachi 

 (22) with winter wheat grown in the field. Unfortunately his paper does 

 not make it clear whether the immature seeds used by Nowachi which 

 were not after-ripened (i.e. which were not allowed to dry off in organic 

 connection with the parent-plant after harvesting) were sown green, or 

 whether they were allowed to dry before sowing as was the case in the 

 experiments conducted by Lucanus. His results, however, appear to 

 show that the plants produced from the immature seeds were quite 

 as good as those produced from the fully ripe seeds. In fact, the figures 

 given in his table (Table VII) point to their being better. 



It is seen that Nowachi found very little difference in the germination 

 percentages. 



The results of Lucanus and of Nowachi referred to above introduce 

 the third point to be considered in discussing the question of immature 

 seed. How far does the process of drying-off in organic connection 

 with the parent-plant have any effect upon the " potentiality '' of the 



