146 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
measurements and the weight per hundred show considerable vari- 
ation under the two systems, but as the root modifications are of 
the nature of an improvement, while the aggregate weight is largely 
influenced by the curtailment of the development of the massive 
tap-root, the figures in the respective columns cannot be said 
to tell against the system. The following figures deal with the 
results of using acorns of approximately the same size, which 
were in every way treated alike, except as regards the shortening 
of the radicle. 
-. 
Average Average E c 
Number ‘ = | Average Weight 
of Plants. aa pera per 100 Plants. 
| Mere. | |B, c| ace oe, Ke B. 
| Ths. | Ins. Ins. Ins. Ip, oz: | Thietez, 
| Radicle not shortened, | 87 | 99 | 4:8 | 753. 18°25) 21:5. | 22 eel ee 
| Radicle shortened, .| 87 | 81 | 4:8! 6°5|17°5|141] 115! 2 9 
| | 
Can AsH SEED BE INDUCED To GERMINATE IN THE 
First YEAR? 
The seed of the ash is one which, when sown in spring, lies 
dormant for a year. It is therefore generally “stratified,” that 
is, buried in the soil in a layer or stratum, or mixed with soil in 
a heap, or treated in some similar way, and finally sowed in the 
seed-bed after the lapse of a year. But it is evident that this 
delay of a year in the germination of ash seed must in all cases 
be undesirable, and various methods of treatment of the seed 
have been tried with the object of stimulating germination in the 
first year. Some considerable measure of success is said to have 
attended certain of these methods, two of which were put to the 
test in the College garden. In one case the seed was steeped 
in spring for an hour in water, at a temperature of about 
120° Fahr., while in the other case it was stored in damp sand 
throughout the winter and sown in spring. It may be men- 
tioned that another lot of untreated seed was sowed on November 
3rd, while a further supply was stored dry during winter, and 
sowed in spring. The result was that in no case did a single plant 
appear in the year succeeding that in which the seed ripened, so 
that this experiment furnished only negative results. 
Some propagators are said to have succeeded in obtaining a 
large proportion of plants in the first year, by pulling the ash 
