30 



THE SCIENCE AND PRACTICE 



our forcing-house. We oould, however, see no dif- 

 ference in the results, nor could we trace any in the 

 germinal or cotyledon leaves of swedes, turnips, or 

 charlock. But, of course, samples of turnip-seed could 

 not be tested as to freedom from charlock by this 

 experiment, because charlock is killed before being 

 mixed with the turnip. 



Now, seeing that we could get no trustworthy 

 results by this kind of experiment, it struck us that 

 our germination-pans might be used to test the ger- 

 minating power, not only of the samples we had 

 obtained for a different purpose, but of others also. 

 We first, then, counted a hundred of each of the 

 following sorts of seeds, and carefully dibbled them 

 in a fresh mixture of soil, in September, 1860 ; the 

 results, which were as carefully noted from day to 

 day, are shortly given in the following table : — 



Table 1. — Germination of Ten Sorts of Turnips. 



