1905] BRIEFER ARTICLES 141 
Names of seeds tested sth year |roth year|rsth year|2oth year/2sth year 
Amaranthus retroflexus.................- x x x x x 
Ambrosia artemisiaefolia................- oO o fe) o re) 
PMTs oe iene oe o x x x x 
Bromus secalinus....-....-...-+++++e++5 9 fe) oO fe) o 
apsella Bu SR oor cs eee x oO x x x 
Erechthites hieracifolia................-. re) oO oO 0 ° 
NN MNRIINEN 5 oo ios aay es v's oO oO o oO oO 
ee er x x x 4 = 
MOMENI Crs ys i veo ees Oo fe) oO oO 0 
ee ss fs i se ec x x x o x 
Beaten votunilifclia................+-.-:. x ° ° x ° 
MEE CMI eh a x x x = x 
yi SRESTENS aiag af ceersgrs ie een fe) ° x ° ° 
Polygonum Hydropiper...............++: ° x x x x 
Pemtuthee GletSten......... =. seve cs ce es ° x ¥ x x 
Quercus Oe ae ee ey a ° ° ° ° as 
se no ches ac nce 60g x ? x x x 
MN fe ous edi Dee te x x x ° x 
CI oe ee ce xe ake x < x x x 
Thuja ee Sane re) ° ) ° ° 
IE oe eG ke ° ° ro) ° ° 
PE SATE... : eo es x ? x x ° 
a depth of about eight inches to two feet or a little over had all decayed. 
All the walnuts deeply planted had decayed, but some of the acorns planted 
two or three feet below the surface were still alive, or rather the young 
plants were alive. They had probably started soon after planting, as the 
cotyledons were exhausted, their nourishment having been used in devel- 
oping roots and pushing up an ascending axis. 
On August 12, 1889, after a part of the nuts had been planted and 
undisturbed for two months less than four years, I examined them. Eight 
acorns were found alive, with the roots about like the roots of those dug up 
two years before. The ascending axis in most cases was slender and 
crooked, with a delicate white apex. In one case there was no ascending 
axis, but a solid, fleshy root, apparently alive. 
In all tests of the seeds buried in bottles, the results have been indefinite 
and far from satisfactory. I mean by this that I have never felt certain 
that I had induced all the sound seeds to germinate. I moisten the sand 
Containing the seeds, and forthwith a goodly number germinate, and then 
they come slowly straggling along. I dry the soil and wait a few days, and 
— moistening, in a few days more seeds germinate. Why was I unable 
to Anduce them to start when treated to various degrees of temperature 
and moisture for seven months ? 
We see this important point. It is to the advantage of the plants net 
to shoot up all of their seeds at one time, but to retain a good portion alive 
