ITS HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT 31 



placed a glass cover on which is recorded the kind 

 of seed, together with the date of planting and the 

 weight of the filled receptacle, after which it is placed 

 in a room which is kept at a temperature of 70 F. 



For checking purposes, all tests are made in dupli- 

 cate. The plates are weighed daily and sufficient 

 weight of water is added to renew the loss by evap- 

 oration. 



The germination rooms are kept at an even, exact 

 temperature during the day, sometimes slightly raised 

 at night. After having been placed in the germina- 

 tion bed, the balls which have germinated are counted 

 and noted daily, and the germs are removed. After 

 removing the germs these balls are sometimes placed 

 in another germination bed. Those which have not 

 germinated remain in the original bed. 



At the end of seven days, 70 per cent, of the re- 

 quired number of germs must have germinated, and 

 the total required number must have germinated by 

 the end of fourteen days. 



