132 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [august 



from 



? 



times 



inclusive, of the different varieties which had been tested in Dewar 

 flasks, as the preceding records show. These seeds were quickly 

 washed in a saturated aqueous solution of corrosive sublimate and 



in boiled distilled water. They were then soaked 

 for 24 hours in distilled water and planted, on January 16 and 17. 

 1913, in shallow boxes of sand. These boxes contained sand and 

 had previously been steamed for three hours in an Arnold steam 

 sterilizer and thereupon allowed to cool. Pending the germination 

 of the seeds, these boxes stood on the benches in the greenhouse. 

 In the last four columns to the right, in table XXIII, will be 

 found the measurements and the percentage of growth of the 



plumules of the seedlings from 



These 



plumules 



arbitrary standard for comparison. In addition, therefore, to the 

 information regarding actual germination which this table gives, we 

 have also a record of the amounts of growth in length of these seed- 

 lings. These figures show that the older seed is not only slower in 

 germinating and that there are fewer germinating seeds the older 

 the seed is, but also that the seedlings, when the seed does germi- 

 nate, are inferior in size to those from fresher seed, even when 

 grown under the same conditions. The temperatures developed, 

 therefore, within a short time in such an excellent insulator as a 

 silvered Dewar flask, indicate plainly the values of the lots of seeds 

 sampled. It would have been interesting for us to follow the later 

 development of these seedlings of different ages, and to compare 

 the harvests from the different lots, but the conditions of our 

 experiments were such that this was not at the time possible. 



XXIII, supplementin 



periments 



immediate!} 



following germination. 



XXIII shows an almost surprisin 



decrease in the number of seeds sprouting as the age of the seed 

 increases. This is plainest in the varieties numbered 791 and 98. 

 The reasons for the less regularity in the other three varieties are 

 not known to us. We have already pointed out that the different 



