Germination of Forest Trees 75 
bear on the whole grains of a greater weight. Walls (37), work- 
ing upon the size of the grain and the germ of corn, concludes 
that the heaviest grains do not necessarily have the best ger- 
minating qualities and that plants from the heaviest grains attain 
the greatest weight, other conditions being favorable. Concern- 
ing the size of the germ he finds that the germinating properties 
of the kernels containing different sizes of germs may be equal; 
that the largest, hardiest, and most vigorous plants come from the 
kernels with the large germs; and that the plants from the 
kernels with the largest germs withstand the drought best. He 
says in the selection of corn, in order to insure a good stand and 
a large yield none but the large germed kernels should be used. 
Harris (33, 34, 35) working on the differential mortality with 
respect to seed weight of beans and peas secured similar results, 
though in a.different way. In the case of peas about 1,000 seeds 
from each of ten early varieties were weighed and planted. In 
seven cases out of ten the total weights of the seeds which ger- 
minated was higher than the total weights of the seeds which did 
not germinate. Cummings (38) worked with numerous kinds of 
garden seeds. He quotes numerous investigators who worked on 
corn, oats, wheat, sugar beets, cotton, and beans and practically 
all the results show an increased yield through the use of large 
seeds. He himself worked with squash, pumpkin,, lettuce, 
spinach, parsley, radishes, beans, garden peas, and sweet peas. 
Here too the results were almost without exception in favor of 
the large seeds. Not only were the resulting yields larger and 
heavier but in most cases the yield was earlier. In the case of 
the radishes the large seeds produced more uniform crops one 
week earlier than the small seeds. Sweet peas showed earlier 
blossoming, a larger total yield of blossoms and a larger number 
of blossoms of good quality. On the whole the permanent ad- 
vantages accruing from large seeds are a larger and greater 
number of leaves, flowers and fruits. 
Present Investigations 
Having on hand several climatic varieties each of Pinus pon- 
derosa and Pseudotsuga taxifolia, | was prepared to determine 
