374 Report oF THE HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT OF THE 
It is seen from this table that plants from seeds more or less 
discolored are as little desirable as yielders as they are unpromis- 
ing as seedlings. It will be noticed that without exception every 
large fruit was obtained from a large or in one case medium sized 
white seeds. Plants from dark seeds did not produce a single 
fruit large enough for use, and brownish colored seeds produced 
only two such. None were produced by plants from small white 
seed. 
CAUSES AND DIFFERENCES IN SPECIFIC GRAVITY 
AMONG SEEDS. 
If the specific gravity of a seed is truly related to the vigor of 
the resulting plant, this fact must presumably be due to differ- 
ences in composition of the seed. These differences, moreover, 
must be differences in the relative amounts of reserve material 
present. The important reserve materials of seeds and their 
respective specific gravities are as follows: 
BAGS i bots teres conte sic ene nae. store wena tone 0.91—0.96 
10241116 RL AMR eieh MA NEY A RAS one t4 1.285 
IPPFOLET 2S Fes asics g Sun Se Caieue pe epee = ees 1.297 
Stare 212s ais eas cass 5 tiateole «Mieracwetae hte teem 1.53 
Ce NTOTOSE S75 Fis ve cnce, @ ols ince ele a Scag eye nonetinns member 1.53 
ion Papo! sca ttott Aon hoe Meee ee 2.50 
In addition to the above the seed contains considerable quanti- 
ties of water (sp. gr. 1.00), and of air (sp. gr. 0.001293). Among 
the components of the seed the proteids are especially important 
to the vigorous growth of the plant. It is well known that seeds 
do vary very greatly in their composition. For instance, Wiley 
reports differences in the composition of American wheats rang- 
ing from 8.58 per ct. to 17.15 per ct. in proteids, 66.67 per ct. to 
76.05 per ct. in carbohydrates (excluding crude fiber), and 12.33 
per ct. to 39.05 per ct. in wet gluten. 
It is well known also that differences in composition are in- 
duced by differences in soil, climate, fertilization, and methods 
of cultural management in general. For instance, as already 
stated, wheat grown in northern Colorado is heavier than the 
same variety grown in the Mississippi valley. This is due pre- 
1 Wiley, H. W. (Food and Food Adulterations,) U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Chem. 
Bul. 13, pt. 9, p. 1186. 
