1915] ROSE—DELAYED GERMINATION 431 
are more certain to be productive than those that for any reason 
are weak from the beginning. 
Before this machine can become commercially practicable, 
experiments must be conducted to determine: (1) the possibility 
of substituting something else for needle points; (2) the proper 
distance these points should be from each other to give the best 
results for different sized seeds; (3) the pressure necessary to give 
the best germination for different kinds of seeds; for certain 
legumes a pressure of two to three pounds is necessary, for lettuce 
one pound or even less; (4) the effect of storage on the germination 
of treated seeds; (5) the germination of treated seeds in soil. To 
be effective in overcoming hard-coatedness, the needle point need 
only pass through the palisade layer and not entirely through the 
coat. Even with this slight deformation it is possible that bacteria 
and fungi can gain an entrance. That destruction by bacteria 
and fungi actually does take place was shown by JARZYMOWSKI (17) 
for seeds of Ulex europaea, lupines, and other large-seeded legumes 
which had been treated with the Wissinger machine. Red clover 
and Lotus corniculatus were the only ones whose germination in 
soil after treatment was not seriously reduced. 
As to the germination in soil of seeds treated by the blowing 
method here described, there are not at present enough data on 
hand to justify the drawing of definite conclusions. Preliminary 
experiments seem to indicate for alfalfa seed, where the percent- 
age of hard seed is high, that germination in soil is definitely better 
alter treatment than before. Further investigation, of course, is 
necessary before this can be confirmed. In conclusion it may be 
Stated that there was no serious crushing or cracking of seeds or 
seed coats by this machine. 
The need of after-ripening 
This is a condition which occurs, to mention only a few cases, 
in seeds of Crataegus, various conifers, Fraxinus, potato tubers, 
and lily-of-the-valley bulbs. For a discussion of the general situ- 
ation and a résumé of the literature the reader is referred to the 
paper by Eckerson (10) dealing with after-ripening in the seeds 
of Crataegus. The work to be discussed here had to do with the 
