56 MISSOURI AGRx EXP. STA. RESEARCH BULLETIN NO. 17 



seeds. Taubenhaus 2 reported very similar results and he also stated 

 that ether seemingly put new life into old seeds thereby causing a 

 higher germination. In both of these tests the seeds used were those 

 of common vegetables and grains. 



Kiessling 3 (1911) found that an 80 minute exposure to ether 

 would hasten the germination of seeds but longer doses reduced both 

 the rapidity and total per cent of germination. Alcohol, chloroform, 

 etc., acted as stimulants to barley, wheat and oats. Injury to the seed, 

 especially to the hulls, tended to promote increased and hastened 

 germination. 



Aspit and Gain 4 (1911) showed that the effect of ether was con- 

 siderably increased at high temperatures. 



Miscellaneous Work. Waldron 5 ( 1904) , in making a study of 

 the vitality of buried seed, found that green and yellow foxtail would 

 not germinate before May 1 of the year following the production of 

 the seed. Kinghead (Ambrosia trifida, L.) grew more abundantly 

 the second season following planting than the one immediately follow- 

 ing planting. The ability of some seeds to germinate seemed to depend 

 quite largely upon the depth to which they were planted, the deeper 

 buried ones (up to ten inches) being the better preserved. It was 

 also shown that some seeds maintained their vitality much longer than 

 others kept under the same conditions. 



Fawcett 6 (1904) made a study of the viability of seeds under 

 different conditions of treatment and also of their dormant period. 

 Seeds stored indoors showed almost uniformly a longer dormant 

 period than those stored outside, and the longest dormant period oc- 

 curred in those seeds with the hardest and thickest seed coat. Some 

 seeds showed a gradual decrease in the percentage of germination 

 from month to month but others showed an increase. There seemed 

 to be two natural periods for seed germination, one in the fall and 

 the other in the spring. Exposing seed to the action of the weather 

 tended to increase the percentage of germination and also to shorten 

 the dormant period. 



Pammel and King 7 (1906), in a study of delayed germination, 

 confirmed some of the earlier work of Fawcett. It was reported that 



2. Taubenhaus, Cornell Countryman 5 (1908), No. 6, p. 201. 



3. Kiessling, Exp. Sta. Record, Vol. 26, pp. 130-31. 



4. Aspit and Gain, Exp. Sta. Record, Vol. 27, p. 220. 



5. Waldron, North Dakota Exp. Sta. Bui. 62. 



6. Fawcett, Proc. Iowa Acad. of Science, Vol. 15, No. 38. 



7. Pammel and King, Proc. Iowa Acad. of Science, Vol. 15, No. 45. 



