30 



THE NURSERY-MANUAL 



FIG. 17. Home-made seed-tester. 



thermometer (d) 

 may be placed 

 to show the tem- 

 perature of the 

 water in the 

 jacket." 



A good home- 

 made tester, often illustrated in experiment station bulletins 

 and elsewhere, is shown in Fig. 17. Two plates are used, 

 with water or wet sand in one of them, on which is placed 

 a blotting-paper or piece of canton flannel bearing the 

 seeds. 



The "rag-doll" tester is now one of the most popular home- 

 made devices and is often illustrated. It is shown in Fig. 18 

 (adapted from a Montana Station publication, as is also Fig. 17). 

 A piece of heavy cloth is wet, the seeds placed on it, and the 

 cloth then rolled up tight; sometimes the rolls or "dolls" are 

 stood in a pail of water. In these rolls the seeds soon germi- 

 nate, and they may be untied frequently for examination. 

 Several of them are shown in Fig. 18. If it is desired to test 

 several kinds of seeds in one doll, a piece of heavy white canton 

 flannel may be used and laid off into squares or compartments 

 with a lead pencil. 



The usual practice of testing garden seeds at home is to plant 

 them in boxes of light earth and to place the box in a warm 

 window or near a 

 stove. While this 

 method may be accu- 

 rate enough for com- 

 mon purposes, it does 

 not allow of easy ex- 

 amination nor are the 

 conditions likely to be 



Under sufficient Control. FIG. 18. The rag-doll seed-tester. 



