1922] ATWOOD—FORMALDEHYDE 235 
to the exact nature of the effect exerted by formaldehyde on the 
physiological processes of seeds, as shown by wheat. Accordingly, 
the Oregon Experiment Station has been occupied in such studies, 
during parts of the past three seasons, and inasmuch as local condi- 
tions have necessitated the temporary discontinuance of this work, 
it was thought well to report the results already obtained. 
Experimentation 
Wheat for these studies was kindly furnished by Mr. STEPHENS 
of the Oregon Branch Experiment Station. In order that the 
' behavior of this wheat in relation to formaldehyde might be known, 
it was thought advisable first to determine the effect on germination 
of varying the concentration and also the time of treatment. The 
formaldehyde used was the ordinary commercial material, the 
strength of which was determined according to the method outlined 
by Haywoop and Srrx (30), and found to contain 39.3 parts per 
hundred by volume of the formaldehyde gas. 
In the studies of the effect of varying the time of treatment, the 
period was varied from 5 to 300 minutes of soaking in formaldehyde 
1-320. The number of seeds used was 10,800, one-third being 
grown in blotters in the customary manner, one-third in soil in 
porous clay germinators indoors, and one-third outdoors in pots of 
soil exposed to the weather and a temperature between 40° and 
60° F. The indoor samples were grown in the laboratory, and, as 
might be expected, germination was much more prompt at the 
higher temperature. It was found that the time of dip between 
twenty and forty minutes only slightly reduced the germination 
percentages. A somewhat greater drop in the curves (figs. 1, 2) 
occurs as the time is lengthened up to four hours, although the drop 
is not great in most cases. The seeds germinated in soil displayed 
a somewhat greater percentage of injury, as measured by appearance 
above soil, than was true of the samples grown in blotters. This 
difference between the behavior of formaldehyde treated seeds when 
germinated in soil and in blotters was noted by CRANEFIELD (20) in 
studying the effect of the fungicide on oats. He found the injury 
in oats grown in the soil averaged four times greater than that of 
seed grown in blotters. The explanation of this difference in 
