142 BOTANICAL GAZETTE (oni 
in the soil to be ready for stocking the earth in successive years. Again, 
we must consider that it makes very little difference whether all the seeds 
live over for a time or only a small proportion of those which were pro- 
duced, as a living seed now and then left is enough to save the stock and 
produce new crops of seeds. ; 
The seeds I began testing in August 1894 were kept in trial until | 
November of that year, when the plates containing the dry sand were set 
away dry until the next spring, and kept in test for that year until Novem- 
ber 1895. In this second year some seeds of eight species germinated. 
In the sets of seeds which were put in condition, as I supposed, t0 
germinate in July 1899, after being buried twenty years, some seeds of 
eighteen species grew during the following four months, when the plates 
were set away till the next April (1900), at which time the sand was occa- 
sionally wet. During this period, some seeds of mustard, mallow, shep- 
herd’s purse, and chickweed germinated. is e 
In September 1882 I selected of the second crop of red clover five plants 
: within a few feet of each other, which seemed much alike. The 0 
fifty good heads of each, containing 1260-1820 seeds, were shelled, and 
ever since, till tested, they have been kept, each lot by itself, in a two 
ounce bottle well corked. Fora portion of the time they were € : 
the light; for some years they have been kept in a dark closet. Neatly 
twelve years after collection, fifty seeds of each lot were tested for vitality, 
with the following results: 
Of no. r 2 : “ - 24 germinated 
Ofno.2 - E 2 
Of no. 3 Boe = +. 34 « 
Of no. , - - - 25 ss 
Of no. 5 a 2 e fs ° 6“ 2 ; 
Two weeks later another test of fifty seeds each was made: t 
Of no. r s . YD - 3s germinated 
Jp ae Ber ce ee . = 10 
Of no, 3 - - i ~ 32 ae 
Of ho.4 .: “a 21 ss 
‘ 
Of no. 5 Poe Cg ' : 
This is an average for both tests of 33.8 per cent. The pee 
oo percentage of these lots of seeds perhaps May be a a 
or by the presence of weevil in a few seeds; by difference in the - 
Seeds, or the Stage of maturity; by individual peculiarities of the : 
Plants. By some means, since testing, the bottle no. 4, containing 
seeds, has been lost. 
