48 MISSOURI AGR. EXP. STA. RESEARCH BULLETIN NO. 17 



Drying seeds for one month had but little effect on the number 

 that germinated, but they grew 6.4 days earlier on the average, appar- 

 ently as a result of the drying. Etherizing dried seeds did not cause 

 them to grow any earlier and neither did the treatment increase the 

 percentage of germination. 



Stratifying seeds and allowing them to freeze hastened the time 

 of germination by 34.4 days, and increased the percentage of those 

 that grew by 16.9 per cent. Etherizing after stratification gave vary- 

 ing results on the whole greatly increased the percentage of germina- 

 tion, but this treatment did not materially reduce the length of the 

 rest period. 



Conclusions. Of thirty-one species of woody plants tested, 93.5 

 per cent apparently have a pronounced rest period. Stratifying seeds 

 of woody plants and letting them freeze while mixed with the moist 

 sand proved to be the best treatment tried for hastening the sprouting 

 and bringing about the highest percentage of germination. This shows 

 that the common practice of stratifying forest tree seeds, after they 

 have become dry, is a very necessary treatment. 



Etherizing dried, and also moist seeds (soaked 3 hours) 

 has some beneficial effects on germination. Etherizing seeds that have 

 been stratified (frozen in stratification), hastens the sprouting and 

 increases the per cent of germination. In both tests the good effects 

 of the treatment were very marked. 



EXPERIMENT 5 



In January and February, 1913, seeds of corn and eight common 

 vegetables (all having been kept in house storage), were subjected 

 to twenty different treatments before planting. 



Results from Experiment 5. Corn frozen while dry made 100 per 

 cent germination, while similar untreated seeds germinated only 68 

 per cent. Another lot of corn was frozen, soaked six hours and 

 etherized, and the germination was 100 per cent, while others with 

 the ether treatment omitted showed only 80 per cent. 



Freezing wet corn twenty-four hours reduced the germination 

 from 60 to 84 per cent. 



Lima beans, untreated, showed 84 per cent germination; frozen 

 while dry, 42 per cent; frozen while moist (soaked three hours), 40 

 per cent; while wet (soaked six hours), 26 per cent. Etherizing the 

 seeds, either dry or wet, had little effect upon the germination in any 

 way. 



Freezing watermelon seeds, even when dry, injured them slightly 

 while if wet they were killed. The effects of ether were variable, 

 altno more favorable on dry than on wet seeds. 



