22 Director’s REPpoRT OF THE 
able has been included in the notes that are published in Bulle- 
tin 248. In this bulletin varieties which are included in the’ 
Station tests are arranged chronologically according to the aver- 
age life of the fruit in storage. The experience of fruit storage 
men is then given concerning conditions which affect the keep- 
ing qualities of apples, the comparative efficiency of different 
kinds of storage as applied to different varieties, the tempera- 
ture at which different varieties should be held in cold storage, 
the relation between seasonal differences and keeping qualities 
of apples, the kinds of deterioration that may precede decay in 
cold storage and the varieties which are liable to each. 
The varieties are then treated in alphabetical order, giving for 
each the results of the tests which were made in the natural 
temperature storage rooms at this Station, the results of the 
tests made in cold storage by the U. 8. Department of Agri- 
culture, and lastly a summary of the experience of cold storage 
men with the variety. 
Selecting seed by specific gravity.—The method of seed selec- 
tion by means of salt solutions has long been known to garden- 
ing. A simpler form of the method, which consists in floating 
off light seed in pure water, is practiced by some in this country, 
particularly by growers of lettuce under glass. But the method 
appears never to have come into any considerable vogue either 
in Europe or America despite the fact that striking results have 
repeatedly been obtained by its use and that it has been recom- 
mended by several European experimenters. In Bulletin 256 a 
variation of the method of seed selection by salt solutions is 
described, in which separates are made at much shorter intervals 
than in the method as heretofore practiced. This permits of 
determining with greater precision the distribution of seeds with 
regard to specific gravity. It is found that within the limits of 
the variety the lower the specific gravity the greater the propor- 
tion of small seeds, and vice versa. The separation of seeds by 
the method of salt solutions is, therefore, in part a crude separa- 
tion according to size. 
A quite definite correlation exists between the specific gravity 
of a seed and its germination. Seeds of low specific gravity do 
not germinate at all. Those in a range higher germinate scantily 
and in many cases produce comparatively weak plants. Seeds of 
