GERMINATION. 47 



By this process, excepting for egg plant, pepper, and 

 such other seeds as require heat, a higher test can be 

 made than by the earth test, but the flannel test is decep- 

 tive, as many seeds will start and show a sprout, while 

 unable to make further growth for want of vital force. 

 Such seeds, under the flannel test, are counted as good, 

 while under the earth test they never would be counted, 

 as they never would appear above the surface, being too 

 weak to force their way through the soil. 



A test of somewhat similar character to the flannel 

 test can be made by placing the seeds between two bats 

 of cotton, each one inch thick and three to four inches 

 wide, kept constantly wet and near a stove, or in the sun, 

 that the water may not become cold. Seeds of the oily 

 class, as cabbage, cauliflower and turnips, should have, 

 when first harvested, if gathered under dry conditions, 

 and if well cleaned, an average vitality. of eighty to 

 ninety-five per cent. The second year the percentage 

 falls to seventy and eighty per cent; the third year to 

 sixty and seventy per cent., and so on in a declining 

 scale to nothing after seven or eight years. 



Carrot, parsley, spinach, or parsnip seeds are much 

 affected by harvest conditions, and as respects cleaning 

 or the separation of the good from the bad, after thresh- 

 ing. The first year they grow from seventy to eighty 

 per cent., the second year fall to fifty and sixty per cent., 

 the third year forty to thirty per cent., and the fourth 

 year may be considered valueless. 



Cucumber, canteloupe, squash, pumpkin and water- 

 melon require cautious harvesting and washing to pre- 

 vent sprouting during the process, and, when well 

 washed and dried, have a vitality the first year of eighty 

 to ninety per cent., the second year seventy to seventy- 

 five per cent., the third year sixty to seventy per cent., 

 decreasing over a period of five or six years. 



Pepper, egg plant and okra seed are especially weak 

 in vital force, seldom showing over seventy per cent, of 



