GERMINATION-. 179 



The seed must always vindergo six hours' pre- 

 hminary soaking. The plates are covered with a wire 

 gauze, then with a sheet of glass, which prevents ievap- 

 oration, the whole being subsequently covered with an 

 inverted plate. No water is added during the test. It 

 is claimed that this is one of the simplest and best ger- 

 minators, and gives far more reliable results than the 

 blotting-paper method and has not the inconvenience 

 of the latter, in removing the seed with the fingers; 

 furthermore, the moisture remains nearly constant dur- 

 ing the week, which it does not by the paper method. 



By the paper method the seeds to be germinated 

 are soaked for six hours in distilled water, then carefully 

 arranged on a sheet of blotting-paper, with the borders 

 turned up. This should be moistened and covered with 

 a double sheet of the same paper, which is also damp- 

 ened. The seeds with their paper environment are 

 placed in a special receptacle and covered by a sheet of 

 glass to prevent evaporation. After the seventh day 

 the sprouts are counted, and all seeds showing signs of 

 life are removed. Those not germinated are placed for 

 a second time between moistened paper, and after 

 another interval of seven days they also are counted; 

 the sprouts of the first and second weeks give the total 

 for ICO or 200 seeds under examination. Notwithstand- 

 ing the unpopul,arity of this method in Germany, 

 in France it has many advocates; so much so, 

 that at the Paris Agronomic Institute it was 

 customary to make tests upon 700 seeds at a time. 

 These were in seven different germinators containing 

 100 geeds each. The seeds were moistened on filter- 

 paper during twelve hours, then placed in ovens for 

 eighteen hours a day at 20 degrees C. and six hours at 

 28 degrees C. The average was taken for the whole 

 experiment. 



Another very simple germinator (Fig. 55) consists 

 of a porcelain receiver, in which is placed a porous 



