SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 340 



THE SPROUTING OF SEEDS. 



It is well known that the germination of seeds is more or less 

 influenced by many comparatively trivial circumstances and con- 

 ditions ; yet there have been no general inquiries in this country 

 into the exact effects of these conditions, or their importance to the 

 cultivator. Their relations to seed-testing have always seemed to 

 Professor L. H. Bailey of the Cornell Agricultural Station to be of 

 special importance, and it is in this direction that the investigation 

 here referred to has been undertaken. Most of the published 

 records of seed tests are obviously nearly valueless, because they 



Seed-tests are of two sorts, — the determination of the purity of 

 the sample as regards foreign material, as weed-seeds, chaff, dirt, 

 and the like; and the determination of the germinative vitality. 

 The former series of tests require a simple mechanical separaiion 

 of the ingredients of the sample. 



Germinative vitality is commonly estimated by per cent and rapidity 

 of sprouting.' Rapidity of sprouting is held to indicate vigor or 

 strength of seed, yet the results of many tests show that it is even 

 more influenced by conditions than is the ultimate percentage of 

 sprouting. Causes which determine the viability and vigor of seeds 

 are either congenital, or due to the conditions of harvesting or 



Fig. s. 

 KNOWLES SYSTEM OF ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION, 



take no account of the conditions of test. This is particularly true 

 of those cases in which germinative vitality is recorded as low, for 

 no assurance is given that other or more careful management 

 might not have increased the percentages. It has been found re- 

 peatedly that a sample which gives very poor results under one 

 treatment may give good results under another. The notes of 

 experiments which follow may serve as suggestions to those who 

 test : at all events, it is not too much to expect that the importance 

 of care and uniformity in seed-testing will be emphasized. It is 

 not to be expected that laws can be announced as the results of 

 these somewhat discursive tests, but indications may be safely 

 drawn in some instances. 



storing. The expression or measure of this viability and vigor is 

 again determined by the conditions of germination. In the present 

 investigation, with the exception of studies of the relations of 

 weight and color to sprouting, only the conditions of germination 

 have received attention. Seeds can be so readily selected in refer- 

 erence to weight and color, that it was thought advisable to study 

 these phases of the subject in connection with conditions which 

 may be fully controlled by the operator. 



The importance of seed-testing is obvious, yet its value is ap- 



' The verb "sprout" is used in preference to '* germinate," as germination is 

 complete only when the plantlet has assumed its true leaves, and has begun to as- 

 similate. In seed-testing, the process is rarely carried tu full germination. 



