410 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIET*. 



while at the same time the fresh new seed of the 1900 crop germi- 

 nated 26 per cent. The 1899 seed of A. incana tested this year, 

 and germinating 9 per cent., is the remainder of that which in 

 last year's Part of the Transactions, page 285 of this volume, was 

 noted as germinating 20 per cent, in five days. It has thus lost 

 more than half its germinative capacity in a year. 



In the case of Betula there is a very marked difference in 

 the seed of the different species and in samples from different 

 localities. That which has done best is the Scandinavian seed of 

 Betula odorata, which germinated 51 per cent, in five days; then 

 comes Sample 1 of B. verrucosa, with 26 per cent, in the same 

 time. The American species are far behind, the two samples of 

 B. lutea having only reached 17 and 24 per cent, in fifteen days, 

 while the two samples of B. lenta are practically worthless, 

 having only germinated 1 and 5 per cent, respectively in thirty 

 days. 



Although these tests are undeniably reliable, most of my 

 consigners absolutely refuse to take any notice of the figures. 

 As a rale they maintain that germinative tests of Alnus and 

 Betula are quite misleading and without importance. The con- 

 signer of the two lots of B. verrucosa, which I received at the 

 end of September (Lot 1) and the end of November (Lot 2), urged, 

 and still urges, in spite of the tests, and notwithstanding the fact 

 that the first lot was of exceptionally fine light colour, while the 

 second was dark and old looking, that both consignments were 

 taken from the same stock of seed. He takes up the same ground 

 as the collector of B. lenta that germinated 1 per cent., and 

 maintains that the seed was new and good and of the very best 

 quality, and says that the fact that the testing establishments 

 have failed to induce the seed to germinate is a matter that does 

 not in the least concern him. To found a claim for abatement of 

 price on even the most careful tests of Alnus and Betula is to 

 run the head against a Chinese wall of prejudice behind which 

 the collectors guard themselves. 



Finally, I shall add a few lines on the before-mentioned 

 series of tests carried out without artificial heat, the results of 

 which will be found in the last cohxmn of the Table. Taking 

 Abies Nordmanniana, Pinus Gembra sibirica, and Pinus Strobus, 

 what immediately strikes one is the fact that the slow germina- 

 tion commenced in February and March in a cold verandah has 

 given considerably better results than the tests carried out during 



