AGRICULTURAL BOTANY 



defects is visible upon examination of the seed, therefore 

 successful farmers generally make germination tests 

 of their grains before planting 

 in order to reduce to a min- 

 imum the chance of a poor 

 yield. 



Germinating Test. A 

 very simple apparatus for 

 testing the germinating power 

 of seeds may be made as fol- 

 lows : Place upon a plate two 

 pieces of clean, rather heavy 

 cloth, cotton flannel for in- 

 stance, which have been 

 dipped in water and squeezed 

 until only moderately wet. 

 the two layers of cloth, put 



FIG. 73. Seed Tester. 



Place the seeds between 

 another plate over the 

 whole and keep it in a temperature of from 65 to 70 de- 

 grees. The percentage of germination may be found 

 by dividing the number of seeds that sprout by the num- 

 ber placed in the tester. 



As it takes only about a dozen ears of corn to plant 

 an acre, and a test of each ear may be made by selecting 

 a few kernels from different parts of the ear, it is com- 

 paratively easy to test all corn before planting. 



A tester for this purpose may be made by filling a shal- 

 low box with sawdust, sand, or soil. This is kept moist 

 and covered with a piece of cloth, preferably flannel, 

 which should be rung out of water and kept moist. In 

 making such test, it is advisable to devise some means 

 of marking the kernels from the different ears to corre- 

 spond with numbers placed on the respective ears in 

 order that the percentage of germination for each eai 



