876 Journal of Agricultural Research voi.xx,No. u 



of the bean under consideration. Since Schroder used the kidney bean, 

 Phaseolus vulgaris, it was decided to use a kidney bean in this experiment, 

 in order to obtain more comparable results. The Kentucky Wonder 

 garden bean is a good example of this type, and, since it is well adapted 

 to this climate, it was chosen. 



About 3,000 perfect beans were selected and, after thorough washing, 

 were allowed to soak in distilled water overnight, until the integuments 

 were softened. From 1,000 of these beans the integuments were care- 

 fully removed and saved as a separate portion. The cotyledons were 

 then carefully separated, and the embryos were dissected out. The 1,000 

 embryos and 200 of the cotyledons were separately analyzed, as were 400 

 integuments and 100 of the whole beans remaining. During these oper- 

 ations, care was taken that the separate portions did not become contam- 

 inated with dust or other foreign material. The materials were dried in 

 an electric oven at ioo° C. for 24 hours, after which they were weighed, 

 ashed, and the phosphorus was determined by the method of the Associ- 

 ation of the Official Agricultural Chemists, 1 while calcium and magnesium 

 were determined according to the method of McCrudden. 2 All the anal- 

 yses made during the progress of this experiment were similar in every 

 respect. The results are stated in Table I, calculated for 1 ,000 beans and 

 also as percentage of the moisture-free materials. 



In determining the degree of utilization of the elements in question in 

 the cotyledons of beans grown under normal conditions in garden soil, 500 

 carefully selected beans \vere planted in a box of garden soil in a room 

 which received the proper amount of sunshine and ventilation. In this 

 room, also, the seedlings in distilled water were grown. Since the room 

 was used only for this purpose, the chance of contamination from dust 

 during the growth of the seedlings was very small. When the. bean seed- 

 lings had pushed the cotyledons well above the soil, the cotyledons were 

 carefully washed with distilled water and a camel's-hair brush to remove 

 any adhering soil. At all other times the watering was done from below, 

 so that no water touched the cotyledons. As growth advanced, the coty- 

 ledons became greatly shriveled and turned brown and finally dropped off 

 upon clean paper so placed as to keep them from falling on the soil. They 

 were then analyzed and calculated according to the method described. 

 The results will be found in Table I. 



In that part of the experiment in which the seedlings were to be 

 grown in distilled water, 1,000 beans from a new lot of the same variety 

 (the first lot having been all used) were selected and sterilized by placing 

 them in an atmosphere of formaldehyde gas for four hours, after which 



1 Wiley, H. W., et al. official and provisional methods of analysis, association of official 



AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTS. AS COMPILED BY THE COMMITTEE ON REVISION OF METHODS. U. S. Dept. A^r. 



Bur. Chem. Bui. 107 (rev.), p. 3. 1908. 



2 McCrudden, F. H. the quantitative separation of calcium and magnesium in the presence 

 of phosphates and small amounts of iron devised especially for the analysis of foods, urine and 

 feces. In Jour. Biol. Chem., v. 7, no. 2, p. 83-100. 1910. 



