19^^ THE CEREALS IN AMERICA 



vigorously. The vitality may be injured and the seed still 

 sprout. The less the percentage of seed sprouting, the less the 

 vital power. The Illinois Station found in the case of sweet 

 maize that when ninety-five per cent of the seed grew in the 

 greenhouse, but seventy-five per cent of the seed which grew in 

 the greenhouse grew in the field ; while where fifty-two per cent 

 grew in the greenhouse test, only fift}'-five per cent of those 

 which grew in the greenhouse grew in the field. A perfect stand 

 of vigorous seedlings is an important element in successful cul- 

 ture of maize. (303) The New York State Station^ reports: 



" While in germination, in one trial, the vitality as expressed in per cents was 

 precisely the same as between two lots of 500 seeds each, the one corn from the crib 

 and the other thoroughly dried over a radiator, viz., 94 per cent, yet when the same 

 com was planted in the earth the difference became very marked, the corn from the 

 crib giving but 20 per cent vegetation and the same corn kiln-dried giving 80 per 

 cent vegetation. The difference was even more marked in the growth, .he corn 

 from the crib attaining a height of only three inches, while that from the kiln-dried 

 seed had reached the height of five inches in the same time." 



270. Germination. — Sturtevant has shown that the different 

 types of maize would germinate at a temperature of 41° to 

 43.7° F. in from ten to twenty days. When the temperature 

 varied from 48.5° to 58.5° F., from five to nine days were required 

 for germination. At these temperatures sweet maize required 

 somewhat longer time to germinate than the other types.^ Sachs 

 and Ward give the highest temperature at which maize will 

 germinate, 115° F., and 91° to 93° F. as the temperature at which 

 germination is most rapid. 



271. Treatment of Seed. — There are four purposes for which 

 seeds have been treated with chemicals; viz., (1) to hasten ger- 

 mination ; (2) to protect the seed from insects and other animal 

 pests ; (3) to prevent the attack of fungi, and (4) to furnish plant 

 food. The evidence as to the influence of chemicals in all of 

 these directions as relates to maize seed is more or less conflict- 



1 N. Y. Rpt. 1886, p. 40. 



I BuL Terr. Bot. Club Vol. XXI, No. 8, p. 234. 



