EXERCISE III 



SEED VITALITY LIMITED BY AGE 



Material. Seeds of the cucumber, tomato, and cabbage, from 

 one to ten years old. 



Apparatus. Sprouting-chamber, Geneva seed-tester. 



It is common knowledge that certain seeds lose their vitality 

 with age. This varies with the variety of seed, the climate, the 

 humidity, and other conditions. 



1. Secure one hundred seeds each of the cucumber, tomato, 

 and cabbage, one year old, two years old, three years old, four 

 years old, five years old, six years old, seven years old, eight 

 years old, nine years old, and ten years old, and place them in a 

 Geneva seed-tester, the same as in Exercise II. Carry the germi- 

 nation test seven days and tabulate your results. 



2. From your results, plot a curve showing the decrease in 

 the vitality due to the age of the seed. At what age does the 

 greatest vitality occur in each kind of seed ? How do you 

 account for this ? Discuss the age limit of the different seeds. 



TABLE OF RESULTS 



NOTE. Different-colored inks may be used to represent the different seeds ; 

 for example, black = cucumber, red = tomato, green cabbage. 



[10] 



