92 REPORT OP THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



tLat really the seed -vvas all good and full weight. The average ratio of 

 best to poorest thirds by weight was 100 : 98.5G. 



In no case was the difference very marked, although in every case but 

 two it was in favor of the l:)est thirds. These exceptions doubtless 

 arose from the large size of these seeds, which prevented their being 

 closely packed in so small a vessel as that in which they were weighed 

 out. 



Kext, 50 grams of each §ample were weighed out, and the number of 

 seeds present in this weight counted out, when the average ratio of the 

 weight of individual seeds was ascertained to be 100 : 71.33. 



An examination of several other samples of maize, pease, and beans 

 showed the difference above observed to be pretty constant, e. g., the 

 ratio of weight between an equal number of grains from the first and 

 third thirds of nine samples of maize was 100 : GO; in six samples of 

 pease, 100 : 69 ; in five samj^les of beans, 100 : 64 ; or an average of 

 100 : 63.7. But another consideration remained, of equal importance 

 with this quantitative difference in the food supply, viz., whether there 

 existed also a qualitative difference; and for the purpose of determin- 

 ing this point complete proximate and ash analyses were made of several 

 of the seeds mentioned, the results of which showed that of each 

 proximate constituent the amount present in the individual seed of each 

 poorest third was about 71.4 per cent, of the amount present in the 

 single seed of the best thirds. 



In the same manner, by comparing the full analyses given of the ashes 

 of the several samples, it was found that those two constituents w1»ich 

 are most important, and which are present in greatest quantity, viz., 

 potash and phosphoric acid, stand in the same ratio as the organic proxi- 

 mate constituents, i, e., the amount of potash and phosphoric acid pres- 

 ent in a single seed of the poorest third of either of these samples 

 analyzed averages exactly 71 per cent, of the amount i)resent in a seed 

 from the best third. 



The conclusion, then, from these results is that the young plant would 

 receive from the better seed the same kind of food for its early develop- 

 ment, and about 40 per cent, more of it than from the poorest seed. It 

 is also shown that the entire amount of the several seeds submitted to 

 analysis were mature seeds, as, indeed, to the eye they appeared to be 

 different only in their relative size. 



When we consider that during the period of germination and the 

 earlier stages of its growth, until in fact through well developed foliage 

 and rootlets the plant is able to aj^propriate and assimilate food from 

 the atmosphere and earth, its entire supply of nutriment is derived solelj' 

 from that stored up in the seed, the importance of the above difference 

 in the amount of tliat supply of food is manifest. 



It is not improbable that during the early life of the new j)lant there 

 may result a feeble struggle for existence, during which period, if not 

 supplied with sufficient and proper food, the plant becomes dwarfed in 

 its full development, with its power of reproduction impaired, and every 

 vital function in marked contrast with that plant which has in its early 

 life received a more generous supjjly of food. 



It is obviously true, and has been proved so by experiment, that even 

 under-sized seed may, in fertile ground, produce well-developed plants ; 

 and, indeed, it appears to have been demonstrated that " the vigorous 

 development of plants depends far less upon the size and weight of the 

 seed than upon the depth to which it is covered with earth, and upon 

 the stores of nourishment which it finds in its first period of life," but 

 there still apjjears to remain, as an oi)eu question of very great practical 



