fuller] HOfV ORCHID SEEDS GROIV 21 



ordinary "iead" pencil should be used in marking these squares, 

 as ink marks will blur when the cloths are wet. The squares 

 should be numbered to correspond to the numbers on the rack. 

 When all is in readiness for the test ten kernels should be taken 

 from different parts of ear No. 1 (butt and tip kernels should 

 not be used) and placed on square No. 1, and so on until each 

 square is filled. Then a moist cloth should be laid over the seeds, 

 and the box placed in a room where th,e temperature is about 

 60° to 70° Fahr. If moist sand or sawdust is scattered over the 

 top of the cloth it will not dry out so easily. At the end of the 

 sixth day the top cloth may be removed by rolling carefully 

 back, and the germination results noted. The ears, then, of 

 which the seeds did not germinate at all, or that germinated poor- 

 ly, should be discarded and only those with good germination 

 (at least nine of the ten kernels germinating strongly) used for 

 seeding purposes. Be sure to discard ears the seeds of which 

 produce only poor sprouts. During the germination test if moist 

 sand or sawdust has not been scattered over the top the top cloth 

 should be carefully watched, and kept moistened. Do not, how- 

 ever, keep the cloths too wet. 



Before the final shelling of seed-corn, the "butt" and "tip" 

 kernels should be removed. No planter can plant uniformly 

 when the kernels are irregular in size. 



This, then, briefly indicates a simple method of presenting 

 the subject of seed testing in a manner which ought to arouse 

 interest. An exercise like this has not only economic value, but 

 it offers advantages in the training for close observation and 

 accuracy of methods, which are not excelled in the possibilities 

 of presentation of any other agricultural or botanical facts. 



How Orchid Seeds Grow 



Geo. D. Fuller. 



The University of Chicago. 



When the word "orchid" is spoken one is likely to think of 

 some rare plant with flowers of strange, fantastic shape and 

 bizarre coloring, which had its home in the jungles of tropical 

 America or of far-off India, or came perchance from some 

 lone island in the Pacific and now blooms occasionally in the 

 conservatory of a millionaire. This would be a true conception. 



