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CONTROL SERIES NO. 147 



STUDIES OF FLOWER SEEDS 



Conducted by the Seed Laboratory 



Waldo C. Lincoln, Jr., Laboratory Assistant 



Under the Supervision of 



Clark L. Thayer, Professor, Department of Floriculture 



This is the fifteenth year in which flower seed studies have been conducted 

 by the Seed Laboratory to determine the quality of flower seeds offered for sale 

 in various retail outlets. 3eed of 270 lots, representing 47 genera, packeted by 

 26 wholesalers or distributors, were obtained from 48 retail sources by the Seed 

 Inspector. Nineteen lots of Ipomoea and one perennial were collected but were 

 not tested. 



The lots were distributed among the various genera as follows: 



Ageratum 6 



Alyssum 9 



Amaranthus 1 



Anchusa 1 



Antirrhinum 6 



Browallia 1 



Calendula 12 



Calliopsis 3 



Callistephus IS 



Celosia 3 



Centaurea 12 



Chrysanthemum 1 



Clarkia 1 



Cleome 2 



Convolvulus 1 



Cosmos 16 



Cynoglossum 4 



DahUa 1 



Delphinium 4 



Dianthus 3 



Didiscus 2 



Dimorphotheca 1 



Eschscholtzia 3 



Gypsophila 2 



Helianthus 1 



Helichrysum 2 



Hollyhocks 2 



Iberis 2 



Impatiens 3 



Linaria 1 



Lupinus 3 



Malcomia 2 



MirabiUs 3 



Nicotiana 3 



Papaver 4 



Petunia 30 



Phlox 4 



Portulaca 8 



Reseda. . 1 



Salpiglossis 1 



Salvia 2 



Scabiosa 3 



Tagetes 20 



Tropaeolum 19 



Verbena 7 



Zinnia 38 



Wild Flower 



Collection 1 



TOTAL 270 



Dates of sowing were June 7, 8, and 9. Seeds were sown in twenty-foot sec- 

 tions in the row and in most cases, because of the small quantity of seed in a 

 packet, it required the entire package of seed to plant the section; in a few lots 

 there were not enough seeds in a packet to plant the twenty-foot section. 



Germination tests were not made in the laboratory on any of the lots of seed. 

 Results of germination were rated as "good" if seeds germinated in approxi- 

 mately two-thirds of the row; "fair" between one-third and two-thirds; "poor" 

 for less than one-third. Performance was designated as "satisfactory" if the 

 varieties were true to name, regardless of the number of plants, with only one- 

 third or less of the plants not true to form or color; "fair" between one-third and 

 two-thirds not true; and not satisfactory if less than one-third was true to name. 

 Fifty-four lots which showed "poor" or "none" germination were replanted 

 June 26 and 27. Lots which did not produce sufficient plants for providing 

 satisfactory data are so indicated. 



Conditions are not always ideal for the best germination of any given lot of 

 seed, hence when there was no germination or when the germination was poor, 

 a second sowing of the seed was made. 



