Germination vs. Sprouting 149 



which all agencies are under perfect control, and the 

 seeds are counted and discarded as soon as they have 

 sprouted. There are various patterns of germinating 

 apparatus. An incubator may be made to answer the 

 requirements. Samples of seeds which give the high- 

 est sprouting tests are riot necessarily the most reli- 

 able, for it is probable that the percentage of vegeta- 

 tion, or subsequent growth, does not always bear a 

 direct ratio to percentage of latent vitality. 



Germination is not completed until the young plant 

 is able to support itself by its own root -hold on the 

 ground. A seed may be able to sprout, and yet be so 

 weak as to be worthless for planting in the soil. A 

 seed which may even germinate in the soil in a green- 

 house may still be so weak that if the plantlet were 

 subject to the untoward conditions of ' the garden, it 

 might perish. It is apparent, therefore, that any sam- 

 ple of seed may give very different percentages of 

 germination, depending on the method of making test. 

 If the test were made in a machine which, like the 

 incubator, has a very uniform temperature, and the 

 seeds were counted and thrown away as soon as 

 sprouts appeared, the percentage of germination would 

 probably be very high. If the same seeds were sown 

 in carefully prepared soil in a gardener's flat and 

 placed in the greenhouse, the probability is that a 

 somewhat lower percentage would be found. If the 

 seeds were planted in an ordinary greenhouse bed, and 

 were to receive the ordinary watering which growing 

 plants receive, a still smaller percentage of germina- 

 tion might appear. If the same seeds were planted in 



