a ahi tll i 
ee ee ee ee 
: aes 2 : 
Case the tendency was to retard germination; ¢. £+ 
that the ether exerted a double influence upon the ge 
ee 4 the corn; one tendency being to hasten the germination, the 
other to retard it. The two influences, being equal, neutralized 
a fach other, producing no visible effect upon the t 
-fation. In tables II, III, and IV, the tendency t 
ee 
Very ctett:. 
_ Sy striking degree of acceleration in favor of a weak atmos 
- tted that the report does not give a detailed account 0 
1899] EFFECT OF ETHER UPON GERMINATION 459 
favor of the ether-free atmosphere (table 1). With the other 
seedlings the difference was less marked (tables II, III, and 
The variation in the growth of shoots or leaves was very 
slight, being only 14 to 10 and 12 to g in favor of the ether-free 
atmosphere (tables II and III).? In tables I-IV the germination 
was perceptibly hastened by the presence of a small amount of 
_ ether in the atmosphere. The advantage was soon lost, however, 
after the seeds in the control experiment germinated. Evenif the 
seeds in the atmosphere of ether were placed in an atmosphere of 
pure air as soon as they had germinated, they were soon equaled 
and often exceeded by the seedlings in the control experiment ; 
hence it is impossible to conceive of any commercial advantage 
_ inthe use of ether to force the germination of seeds under the 
conditions of these experiments. It might be mentioned in this 
connection that in the work of the writer on ‘The correlation of 
growth under the influence of injury,’ the same conc 
Were reached in regard to the influence of a weak atmosphere of 
ether upon the growth of seedlings. 
In the experiments in which 2.5° of ether were peed 7 
found, as in the preceding case, that ether exerts a stronger 
influence upon some seeds than upon others, although in this 
corn germi- 
nated in an atmosphere containing 2.5” of ether in the same 
time that it did in the control experiment, while the germination 
of oats was retarded fully 48 hours. It would seem in this case 
rmination 
ime of germi- 
o retard pre- 
for 1896 reference is made to some 
which there seems to have been a 
phere of ether. It is to 
f the method employed, 
f some practical 
aa Should be noted that in a consular report 
Periments with ether upon growing plants, in 
ce the acceleration seems to have been great enough to me 
‘vantage, 
* Annals of Botany 11°: 509-532. 1897. : 
