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New York AcricuLturAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 341 
germination process without fatal injury. The seed used was of 
_ different varieties of different species of corn. Where this was re- 
_ peated four or five times in succession, the drying period lasting 
usually seven days, the percentage of germinations was reduced very 
low and sometimes the seed was absolutely destroyed. The vitality 
of seeds in this respect is quite remarkable. Certain plants during 
the first few days or weeks of their existence evidently have a 
capacity to withstand drying conditions not possessed by the same 
plants later in life. 
The value of green seeds is an important point with gardeners as 
- well as seedsmen since it frequently happens that they find it neces- 
sary to use seed not fully matured. Investigations** were made at 
various times and with various kinds of plants to determine the 
value of green as compared with ripe seeds. The results from the 
different kinds of seeds do not agree. The seeds taken from a 
plant before maturity did not give as high a percentage of germina- 
tions as those which were allowed to remain until ripe. The plant- 
lets themselves were also less vigorous. The yields were very vari- 
able, in some instances the plants from the green seeds giving the 
largest yields and in some instances the opposite was true. 
In the case of peas seed gathered at the time when the peas were 
in the best eating stage gave only 3 per ct. of germinations and did 
‘not ripen the succeeding crop noticeably earlier than that from 
mature seeds. “A small percentage of the seeds taken from a 
tomato not fully developed in size and which had not commenced to 
change color toward maturity vegetated and developed into plants.” 
These plants ripened their fruit earlier than the plants from mature 
seed. The percentage of germinations from the green seed was 
considerably lower and the plants themselves less vigorous than 
those from well ripened seed. Where green seeds were again taken 
from those plants which had come from green seed the vigor was 
still more reduced, the weakening effect being apparently cumulative, 
increasing with each generation until the plants had not sufficient 
vigor to make a good growth or resist any of the various diseases 
to which tomatoes are subject. In the case of radishes it appeared 
that when the plant itself was pulled up while the seed was.green 
- and hung inside, seed which was allowed to remain on the plant 
gave 81 per ct. of vegetations while the seed from pods removed 
from the plant at the time when the plant was taken indoors vege- 
tated only 3 per ct. It is evident that-a certain portion of the 
* Rpt. 42130, 133, 182 (188s). 
