FATE OF SEEDS INDICATED BY BALANCE 239 



from the cupule, has yet one-fourth of its weight to lose 

 during its drying. Though leguminous seeds as they escape The after- 

 from the withered pod have practically completed the drying '^^'^S of 

 process, it is very different with the seeds of watery or fleshy fleshy or 

 fruits when they are freed, as must often happen, from the ^^^^""^ ''"^^^' 

 moist fruit. As the result of a number of observations I 

 found that after removal from the ripe fruit, and before enter- 

 ing upon the air-dry condition of the normal resting seed, the 

 seeds lost weight as shown below : — 



{a) The seeds of the Apple {Pyrus Mains) lost 45 per cent, of their 

 weight. 



[b) The seeds of the Bread fruit {Artocarpus incisa) lost 55 per cent. 



of their weight. 



[c) The seeds of Momordica Charantia lost 30 per cent, of their 



weight. 



[d) The seeds of Tamus communis lost 44 per cent, of their weight. 



[e) The seeds of the Honeysuckle [Lonicera) lost 42 per cent, of 



their weight. 



[f) The seeds of Armn maculatum lost 49 per cent, of their weio-ht. 



[g) The seeds of the Shaddock (Citrus decumana) lost 40 per cent, of 



their weight. 

 (/;) The seeds of Genipa dusiifolia lost 43 per cent, of their weight. 

 (/) The seeds of Opuntia Tuna lost 45 per cent, of their weight. 



Before quitting this subject of the drying of seeds after their 

 liberation by nature's means or after their collection by man, I 

 would refer the reader to Note 12 of the Appendix for further 

 details ; but in many ways this stage of the drying process is 

 linked with other processes dealt with in other chapters. 



SUMMARY 



(i) For the satisfactory study of the latent life of seeds, says 

 Becquerel, the experiment ought to cover a period far exceeding that 

 of the duration of the seed's germinative capacity (p. 225). 



(2) The author's investigations into the changes in weight that 

 seeds experience during the first three or four years after their assump- 

 tion of a stable weight in the drying process give the following 

 indications. The impermeable seed preserves its weight and shows no 

 hygroscopic reaction throughout that period ; whilst the permeable 



