January, 19i 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 



159 



mination tests wore conducted in labora- 

 tories under conditions different from 

 those existing: in the field. In order to 

 ascertain whether the results of germina- 

 tion tests would be similar, if the seed were 

 germinated under more natural conditions,. 

 Freijer (1, p. 20) sowed samples of dif- 

 ferently colored seed in large pots and 

 found that, when the seed was allowed to 

 germinate in soil of good quality, fhe yel- 

 low seed produced a larger percentage of 

 plants than did the purple. As the result 

 of several trials Preyer finally came to the 

 conclusion that the yellow seed possesses 

 a greater energy of growth tyhan the purple 

 seed. Von Ruml'er (1, p. 204) arrived at 

 a similar conclusion, and so did Fruwirth 

 (3, p. 185) and Menke and HiUenmeyer 

 (1, p. 6-7). 



Eastman, however, contends that purple 

 seed tends to produce heavier yielding 

 plants than does yello^v (1, p. 101) and 

 claims that the purple seed was found to 

 germinate a little faster (1, p. 97). Ka- 

 janus (3, p. 774) also obtained results 

 from which might be inferred that pur- 

 ple seed may germinate a trifle faster 

 than yellow. 



From the observations referred to it is 

 obvious that no definite conclusions can 

 be drawn. In some instances yellow seed 

 has been found to germinate easier and to 

 have a tendency to produce better and, 

 more vigorous plants. In other instances 

 the reverse ^as been the case. The reason 

 why such contradictory results have been 

 obtained is the same here as it was found 

 to be in the matter of supposedly exist- 

 ing correlations between weight and color 

 of seed; the reason is fhat the seed used 

 was of mixed origin, i.e., was selected at 

 random from samples representing the 

 mixed seed crops from many different in- 

 dividual plants. 



If, however, the germination of the seed 

 from individual plants is tested, it will be 

 shown that the seeds of different individ- 

 ual plants possess quite different powers 

 of germination, irrespective of color. The 

 findings of Kajanm (3, p. 775) may be 

 quoted as illustrating this point, as fol- 

 lows : 



From this table as well as from the ob- 

 servations quoted in the preceding para- 

 graphs, it seems permissible to conclude 

 that the color of red clover seed has no 

 direct bearing on its value as far as ger- 

 minating power and productive poten- 

 tiality are concerned, in other words tjiat 

 there does not exist any fixed correlation 

 between the color of the seed and its agri- 

 cultural value. From the table in question 

 the conclusion may furthermore be drawn 

 that the germination power of red clover 

 does not depend as much on its color as 

 it does on the .pedigree of the plants -from 

 which it is harvested. 



Both conclusions are. not only justifi- 

 able from the evidence available, but are 

 also quite in accord with observations made 

 on t.he subject of possibly existing correla- 

 tions between type of plant and the color 

 of its seed. The writer has made numerous 

 observ^ations on the subject and has come 

 to the conclusion that no fixed relationship 

 exists between the color of the seed and 

 vegetative c*haracters such as mode of 

 growth, leafiness, stooling power, etc., of 

 the plants by which the seed is produced. 

 Seed of a color type which, from a com- 

 mercial point of view, would be classified 

 as No. 1, has on numerous occasions been 

 collected from plants of the very poorest 

 agricultural types. On the other hand 

 yellow and otherwise light-colored seed has 

 repeatedly been harvested from plants of 

 very valuable types agriculturally. These 

 statements, it must be explained, refer to 

 clover plants growing side by side under 

 identical soil conditions. 



Under tliese circumstances, the writer 

 must conclude that ihe value of red clover 



