-44- 



suited to the germination and growth of this wheat than is 

 distilled water. It is safe to state that distilled water 

 is not at all suitable for a germination medium when solution 

 cultures are being prepared, unless sickly plantlets are 

 required. 



The unsuitability of distilled water for seed 

 germination, etc., has been emphasize^ and discussed by- 

 several authors'!' )and the reason for this need not be dealt 

 with here. It may be mentioned, however, that the water of 

 the Johns Hopkins Laboratory of Plant Physiology is generally 

 free from direct toxic influences ( due to Impurities V and 

 that the injurious effect here shown was probably due to out- 

 ward diffusion of substances from the seed and seedlings. 

 This conclusion follows the discussion o"^ True and Bartlettfg) 

 and True (9i), for somewhat similar experiments. 



(7) A rather complete resume of the literature on 

 the physiological nroperties of distilled water, up to the 

 time of its publication, is given in the following paper: 

 Livingston, 3.E., et al. Further studies on the properties 

 of unproductive ■ soTTs. - U.S. Dept. Agrio., 3iir. Soils, sul. 

 7)6,1307, see also,. me and Bartlett, cited just below. 



(8) True, Rodney H. , and I>i-rtlett ,H.H. Absorption 



and excretion of salts by roots, as influenced by concentration 

 and composition of culture solutions. Tj,s,T)ept.Agric. , Bur. 

 Plant Ind. Bui. 231. 1912. 



f9) True, ?.H. Harmful action of distilled water. 

 Amer. Jour. Bot. Yol. 1:255-273. 1914. 



