36 Forestry Quarterly 



treated in 1912 and had produced one crop of two-year seedlings, 

 were spaded up and again sown. In addition, some of the beds 

 made were in the sections as yet untreated and were of pure 

 clay. All of these beds were managed in the same manner 

 throughout the season. A few of the clay beds received applica- 

 tions of acid phosphate. On ten of the clay beds different com- 

 binations of fertilizers were applied two weeks before the seed 

 was sown, a combination to each bed. In this way it was hoped 

 to get comparisons of charcoal and commercial fertilizer effects 

 in the same section. 



The seed used on all these beds was purchased by the Depart- 

 ment of Forestry from Otto Katzenstein & Company, Atlanta, 

 Georgia. It was sold as seed gathered from open-grown trees in 

 New York, and stored in cloth bags in a room with a temperature 

 of 90° to 100° Fahrenheit. It was, as a result, very dry. This seed, 

 like all the other seed used in the nursery, was tested by Mr. 

 Barnes, a senior at the Academy, in connection with his thesis 

 and under the direction of the writer. The methods used were 

 adapted from those described in an article in the Proceedings of 

 the Society of American foresters (Vol. VIII, No. 2), "The 

 Technique of Seed Testing." Boxes 7 inches wide, 5 inches deep, 

 and 28 inches long were filled with sterile sand, and the sand 

 pressed down so that exactly 34 inch of sand could be put over 

 the seeds. In each compartment 500 seeds were carefully dis- 

 tributed over the area. The sand was well wetted before sowing, 

 and each compartment received 125 cubic centimeters of water 

 every other day. The temperature of the germinating room was 

 allowed to fluctuate between 65° and 85° Fahrenheit. The room 

 was heated by steam, lighted from the north, and well ventilated. 



The "germinative force" was taken as the percentage of germi- 

 nation attained when the germination in a single day dropped 

 below two seeds, if in the following day the germination did 

 not exceed two. The germinative capacity was taken as the ger- 

 mination attained when no seeds germinated in five successive 

 days. The "real value" was taken as a result of the formula 



Germinative Force x per cent, of Purity 



=Real Value per cent. 



100 



By "percentage of purity" is meant the ratio of the weight of th'=" 



