1901.] 



PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 



81 



None of the seeds showed any further germination when 

 left five days longer. Two other experiments with crimson 

 clover were made : in one the normal seeds gave 22 percent., 

 the average of the treated seeds 38.6 per cent. ; in the other, 

 the normals were 22 per cent., while the average treated 

 ones gave 33.8 per cent. The average of the three crimson 

 clover experiments is : normal average, 24 per cent. ; pepsin 

 average, 34 per cent. The best results were obtained by 

 the .25 per cent, solution in each experiment, and l)y com- 

 paring the results of this treatment we have for the normal 

 averages 24 per cent, and pepsin averages 41 per cent. 



Table IX. — Shoicing the Effects of Pepsin Solutions upon the 

 Germination of Cucumber Seeds (Cucumis sativus L.). 



Normal average (per cent.), . . 58.00 



Pepein average (per cent.) 73.66 



None of the seeds showed any further germination. Another 

 pepsin experiment with cucuml)er seeds gave for the normal 

 51 per cent, and an average of the treated was 68 per cent. 

 Two pepsin experiments with vetch ( Vicia saliva) gave 

 precisely the same percentages of germination for both the 

 normal and treated seeds, and all of the solutions except 

 the .1 per cent, (which accelerated germination) resulted in 

 a retardation. Yellow lupine seeds (Lupinus luteus) treated 

 with the various pepsin solutions were also retarded, and 

 alfalfa seeds responded to pepsin but slightly. It is known 

 that pepsin does not exist, or at least has not been detected, 

 in some germinating seeds. Among these is the lupine, and, 

 from the results of the foregoing experiments, it would 



