72 



THE VITALITY AND GERMINATION OF SEEDS. 



TABLE XXVIII. Vitality of cabbage, and onion seed as preserved in various kinds of 

 packages and subjected to different kinds of storage Continued. 



Many of the points brought out by this table are very similar to 

 those of the preceding one, yet the differences are sufficiently marked 

 to justify its being given in this connection. The seeds stored in the 

 botanical laboratory and those subjected to trade conditions at Ann 

 Arbor have germinated practically the same, the cabbage slightly 

 favoring trade conditions and the onion being better preserved in the 

 laboratory. But a comparison of the trade conditions at Ann Arbor 

 and Mobile in the unprotected packages shows the same wide variation 

 that has been already pointed out. 



The advantage of drying is not very clearly brought out in this 

 table; in many cases there seems to have been a slight injury as a 

 result of the high temperature at which the drying was done. Una- 

 voidably the temperature at that time reached 39 C., which, as has 

 already been stated, is slightly above the maximum to which seeds 

 can be subjected for any considerable time without injury. The 

 injury due to heat is very evident in the samples stored in the incu- 

 bator maintained at 40 C., this injury being more apparent with the 

 increased moisture, especially in the paraffined package and in the 

 bottle. However, on the whole the percentages of germination are 

 higher for the dried seed than for the seed which had absorbed an 

 additional quantity of moisture; and, indeed, the comparison should 

 properly be made with these two, for seeds as they are usually stored 

 contain even higher percentages of moisture than either the cabbage 

 or lettuce after they had absorbed the additional amount of water. 



But the chief purpose of the present experiments was to determine 

 the relative advantages of envelopes, paraffined packages, and bottles 

 as methods of putting up seed in order that vitality might be pre- 

 served for a longer time. This comparison is best made by consider- 



