484 Journal of Agricultural Research voi. xxn. No. 9 



during the daytime and about 50° at night. There were, of course, some 

 variations in this, particularly as summer approached. On bright, sun- 

 shiny days in late spring or early summer, the temperature in the green- 

 house sometimes approached 100° during the middle of the day. By 

 that time, however, the germination tests were practically completed for 

 all except the slow-germinating eastern and western white pines. A 

 careful day by day record was kept of the germination. As the seeds 

 sprouted and developed a short radicle they were plucked out of the 

 sand and discarded. While this method of conducting germination tests 

 for all kinds of seed, particularly those which germinate very slowly like 

 the white pines, is not considered ideal, the results secured for the several 

 years are at least comparative. 



CONCLUSIONS 



In noting the conclusions, the reader should keep in mind that they 

 have reference to coniferous seed only, and that they are based upon 

 the results of one series of tests with only six species of coniferous seed 

 and may not accordingly be applicable to all coniferous seed, or even 

 to the same kinds of seed from other sources. It should also be remem- 

 bered that the seed used in this experiment ^vas thoroughly air-dried 

 before it was placed in air-tight storage. 



(i) Storage of coniferous seed in the air-tight bottle is far superior in 

 every respect to storage in any other container. The average germina- 

 tion for the 5 -year period of seed stored in bottles over that stored in 

 the next best container was 22 per cent. 



(2) Thoroughly air-dried coniferous seed stored in air-tight bottles 

 is little if at all affected by such differences in temperatures as exist 

 between a location where the temperature follows the natural fluctua- 

 tions, a location indoors where the temperature never falls below freez- 

 ing, and a location in an ordinary cellar or basement. 



(3) Coniferous seed stored in air-tight bottles is little if at all affected 

 by the geographic location of the storage point. 



(4) The quality of coniferous seed, by which is meant its value in 

 terms of both germinative energy and germinative ability, is much 

 superior in the case of seed stored in an air-tight bottle to that stored 

 in any other receptacle. This is manifest even at the end of one year 

 of storage. 



(5) Following the air-tight bottle, the various containers, in the order 

 of their merit, fall into the following sequence: paper bag paraffined, 

 paper bag, cloth bag, and oiled cloth bag. It should be noted that an 

 ordinary paper bag closed at the top is superior to a cloth bag for seed 

 storage. The oiled cloth bag is practically worthless as a container. 



(6) The use of any of the containers except the air-tight bottle results 

 in such rapid deterioration after one or t\vo years of storage under the 

 temperature conditions of this experiment as to render the seed, partic- 

 ularly of Engelmann spruce, Douglas fir, and white pine, of very little 

 worth. 



(7) Storage at the indoor temperature is superior to that at the 

 fluctuating or low. Storage at the low temperature shows the poorest 

 results. This low temperature has reference not to a low uniform tem- 

 perature of freezing or less but to that of an ordinary cellar or basement. 

 The difference in germination percentage is not great under these three 

 conditions but is sufficient to make indoor storage preferable to the 

 other two conditions. 



