A COMPARISON OF LARGE AND SMALL RADISH 



SEED. 



W. M. MuNSON and L. J. Shepard. 



In the spring of 1898 one of the students in horticulture, Mr. 

 E. R. Mansfield, in studying the influence of the size of seed 

 upon germination, obtained some very striking results. These 

 results confirm the work of previous years and are in line with 

 those published by Galloway and others,* but the details may be 

 of interest at this time. 



First Trial: From a packet of Scarlet Globe Radish seed 

 were chosen one hundred of the smallest seeds, as nearly uni- 

 form in size as possible; likewise one hundred uniformly large 

 seed. These were planted side by side in a seed-flat. When 

 the resulting plants were about two to three inches high, forty- 

 four average plants from each lot were transplanted to a bench 

 where they grew, under like conditions, till maturity. 



The following table shows concisely the results obtained : 



YIELD OF RADISHES FKOM LARGE AND 



SMALL SEEDS 



COMPARED. 











31 



0.5 



in 



m 

 OS 





















Size of seed. 



03 _; 



B s 





<l, ^ 



^'i 



a eS 









"SmS 



^'^ m 



3 



|S2 



o9c5 



"§S 



Cd . 



.__ S ® 





S.5 





3 ?^ 



Ic2 



II 2 





0.52 



0- S oJ 



Large 



44 



1,300 



35 



7 



79.6 



15.9 



4.5 



Small 



44 



931 



23 



17 



50. 



38.6 



11.4 







The number of first-class roots from the large seed was about 

 thirty per cent greater than from the small, while the weight 

 of the crop exceeded the other by about one-third. 



' Year Book, U. S. Dept. of Ag. 1896, pp. 92, and 305. 



