1909.] 



PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 



41 



The preceding table gives the results of seed separation and 

 the percentage of germination of the normal, heavy and light 

 seed of lettuce, celery and onion. The " normal " column rep- 

 resents seeds taken from the sample as sent in, and the " heavy " 

 and " light '' grades those obtained by separation. By the 

 process of separation the average germination of lettuce was in- 

 creased from 81 to 93 per cent., that of celery from 86 to 95 

 per cent, and that of onion from 71 to 80 per cent. The 

 average percentage of the seed discarded was 9 for lettuce, 12 

 for celery and 14 for onion. 



Seed separation may be used to advantage to increase the 

 percentage of germination of seeds left over from one year to 

 another. In many cases the seeds which show too low a per- 

 centage of germination may be rendered available for planting 

 if a sufficient number is taken out. 



