Appendix Syllabus of Laboratory Work. 283 



of at least 100 cc. capacity, with corks. Each bottle 

 should have a strip of white paper pasted vertically 

 upon it to receive the name of the 'student and other 

 data. 



Each student weighs or measures the volume of 50 

 fresh seeds of the bean, pea or Indian corn in the man- 

 ner described above. Having noted the weight or vol- 

 ume in his note book, he pours the seeds, with the 

 water, into one of his bottles, corks the latter and writes 

 his name, with the date, on the paper pasted on its side. 

 He then repeats the process with seeds cf the honey 

 locust, yellow w r ood or some other seed that does not 

 readily absorb cool water, and after recording the data 

 in his notebook, places the bottles in a warm place until 

 the following day, wnen he again determines the weight 

 or volume of the two kinds of seeds. The seeds placed in 

 the first bottle will usually be found to have nearly cr 

 quite doubled in size, while those in the second bottle 

 have scarcely swollen at all. 



Next, show the class a sample of the second lot of 

 seeds that have fully swollen from soaking in hot water. 

 Impress upcn their minds the fact that while most 

 seeds readily absorb moisture at ordinary temperatures, 

 a few kinds do not, and seeds of the latter class need 

 to be soaked cautiously, before planting, in hot water 

 (27 d.) 



The rate at which seeds absorb water depends 



a Upon the water content of the medium (27). 

 Weigh 3 samples of navy beans. Place one sample in 

 water, a second in very damp earth and the third in 

 slightly damp earth. Weigh again the next day and 

 compute the water absorbed by the three lots. 



b Upon the point of contact. Weigh 2 samp ] es of 

 navy beans, placing one sample in moist soil without 

 compacting, and the second in the same kind of soil well 

 compacted about the seeds. Determine the water ab- 

 sorbed by the two samples the next day. 



c Upon temperature. Repeat the above with 2 sam- 

 ples of navy beans, placing one lot in a temperature of 

 80 to 90 F., and the other in 40 to 50 F. 



