F. KiDD AND C. West -2:33 



The niaiiner in wliicii this influence of the removal of part of the 

 initial food-reserves upon the "rate of interest" affects the dry weight 

 ratio is shown in Fig. 3, which is constructed from Gericke's data. Both 

 sets of experimental plants are at the outset less productive relatively 

 to the original dry weight than the controls. The ratio 

 Dry weight of the experimental plants 

 Dry weight of the control plants 

 decreases. In the later weeks of growth the development of the experi- 

 mental plants from which one cotyledon and one foliage leaf had been re- 

 moved differs widely from that of the plants from which both cotyledons 

 had been removed. In the first case recovery sets in and the relative pro- 

 ductivity rapidly increases and surpasses that of the controls so that at the 



. c ,1 . .• -1.1 .• Yield from the experimental plants 



end or the vegetative period the ratio ^^. . ^ . ,^ , ,- 



Yield from the control plants 



is nearly the same as the ratio of the initial "capital." 



In contrast, the plants from which both cotyledons had been removed, 

 do not recover. They remain relatively less productive than the controls 

 throughout their development and as a result, the final yields from the 

 controls is nine times that from the experimental plants, whereas the 

 initial "capital" of the controls was only H times that of the experi- 

 mental plants. 



Wollny, taking the weights of the final yields found, as we have 

 stated above, that his plants, from which -| or | of the cotyledons had 

 been removed , were relatively more productive than those from untreated 

 seeds, and it is seen that Gericke's data throw much light on Wollny's 

 results. 



We have still to seek an explanation for the following facts which 

 were especially expressed by the French school of workers, namely — 

 (1) that the seedlings which have been deprived of a large part of the 

 food-materials elaborated by the parent-plant show symptoms character- 

 istic of starv^ation although they may be equipped with all the organs 

 necessary for the elaboration of their own food-supply (the removal of 

 the parental supply would naturally be expected to cause only a slower 

 and smaller initial growth); (2) that such seedlings commonly show in 

 addition to starvation symptoms definite morphological abnormalities. 



These two facts, taken together, seem to give some grounds for the 

 view that the seedlings obtain from the food-reserves elaborated by the 

 parent some nutritional elements necessary for normal growth and 

 development which they cannot elaborate themselves except at some 

 considerably later stage in their development. 



