AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 153 



any kind. The selection of seed should be done before the rush of 

 planting time, when care can be exercised. Our advice to farmers 

 is to never buy seeds of doubtful character, and to dealers never 

 to handle them. By working together, poor seed will be driven 

 from the market, the business of reliable seedsmen become less 

 precarious and the crops of the farmer more certain. 



It should be remembered that the seeds tested were germinated 

 under the most favorable conditions, and a larger number sprouted 

 than would grow if planted in the ground. Two things may be 

 learned from this : First, seeds which show a low vitality and 

 germinating power with such favorable conditions would not 

 germinate well in the ground. Second, seeds grown in a warmer 

 climate may nearly all sprout in the germinator, but not come up 

 well when put in ihe ground, or at least not produce a good crop, 

 because they are not adapted to our climate. Good seeds grown in 

 our latitude, if they could be obtained, would be the best to plant. 



Moldy Seeds. 



The apparatus used was scalded after each experiment, to destroy 

 all germs of fungoid growth, but the seeds themselves, especially 

 the poorer ones, contained spores which produced mold in two or 

 three days. As seeds sprouted after being covered with mold for 

 more than a week, it was supposed the surface mold did not affect 

 their vitality. But to test the supposition, and also to see if any- 

 thing could be found that would destroy the spores without injur- 

 ing the seeds, a solution of corrosive sublimate in alcohol was 

 tried. One part of the solution was diluted with ten thousand 

 parts of water and the seeds dipped in this, then washed with 

 water that had been boiled. In these cases the seeds did not 

 mold nor did the solution injure them in any way as far as could 

 be seen. About the same number sprouted as when the corrosive 

 sublimate was not used. Only a few experiments were tried and 

 these seemed to show, that the solution was neither benificial nor 

 prejudicial to germination, though the mold might affect the growth 

 after sprouting. More extended trials might show different 

 results, and such may be undertaken another year. 



Explanations. 



In the following tables these abreviations for the growers of 

 seeds are used: Rice, J. B. Rice, Cambridge, N. Y. ; Lyman, 



