31 



To facilitate the later work each seed was planted in a 

 small body of loamy sand collected from the "bed of the creek 

 where it had been washed down "by recent rains. A dibble was 

 used to make a small hole about tv/o inches deep and one and one 

 half inches across the top. A moderate amount of sand was in- 

 troduced and the hole opened again with the dibble to a depth 

 of about one and one quarter inches. Each seed was placed in 

 its hole by means of a pair of forceps so that it lay with the 

 suture down, embryo uppermost end pointing in the same direction 

 as all the others, the long diameter of the seed being about 

 horizontal. This placed all the seed in the same relative po- 

 sition so it was possible later to find the endosperm with a 

 minimum disturbance of the soil about the plant. The effectiv- 

 ness of this precaution was apparent, for in the large majority 

 of oases the surfece of the soil where the plant emerged was 

 not broken while removing the endosperm. 



The unabsorbed portion of the endosperms in rows 1,3,4, 

 6 ,7, 9, 11, & 13 was removed early in the afternoon of the first 

 of March. In the case of the small light seed, the endosperm 

 vvas nearly all liquified in some cases but it was not all used 

 up in any. noticeably more was left in the small heavy. Be- 

 tween the light and heavy large seed there was less apparent dif- 

 ference in the amount of endosperm remaining but between the small 

 end large size the difference was very marked. \Sfhile it was 

 nearly used up in the small seed, apparently half of the endosperm 

 in many cases and in some about two thirds remained in the large % 



Owing to force of circumstances the endosperms were not re- 

 moved for a little more than twenty- four hours after it was plan- 

 ned to do so, but at the time they were removed the plants were 

 but two and one half inches in height. 



