101 



«ertificates should merely state the percentage of hard seeds 

 •contained in a sample, and that it should be left to the farmer 

 to place his own valuation on the seeds. 



Mr. Brown intimated that experiments in the U.S.A. had 

 shown that seeds which had been buried in the soil for 20 years 

 germinated immediately on being scariiied. 



Mr. Devoto stated that in the Argentine they were of the opinion 

 that 50 per cent, of hard seeds were capable of germination. 



Professor Bussard and Dr. von Degen intimated that their 

 -stations considered that all hard seeds were capable of germination 

 •sooner or later. 



Mr. Dorph-Petersen distributed to the meeting copies of a 

 mimeographed paper containing remarks on Mr. Brown's paper, 

 and also a printed pamphlet entitled " How long do the various 

 seed species retain their germination power? " The paper 

 detailed the results of tests made on samples stored under varying 

 conditions of moisture and temperature. These results showed 

 that in some cases the percentage of hard seeds in samples of 

 red clover, yellow trefoU, and of bird's foot trefoil stored in a 

 warm, dry place (central heated, about 18° C), was considerably 

 greater than when the samples were stored under cool, moist 

 conditions such as in ordinary storerooms. It was presumed, 

 however, that these results were exceptional ; but as such excep- 

 tions must be taken into consideration, the Copenhagen Station 

 proposed to make a considerable number of experiments in the 

 future in connection with leguminous seeds with the view of 

 ascertaining definitely how the content of hard seeds is influenced 

 by the conditions of storage. Mr. Dorph-Petersen further 

 intimated in his paper that, in view of the fact that the scarification 

 of seeds often causes wounds which result in broken seedlings, 

 hard seeds ought, in his opinion, to be regarded as capable of 

 germination when the percentage of such seeds in a sample is 

 not greater than is normal for the species concerned. In his 

 view agriculturists who purchased field seeds which give one 

 •crop a year ought to require that the seed must not contain more 

 hard seeds than is normal for the species. In referring to the 

 printed pamphlet mentioned above, Mr. Dorph-Petersen's paper 

 stated that examinations showed that lucerne seed retains its 

 germinating power for the longest period, and that when 

 scarified the hard seeds were almost always capable of germination. 



Mr. Brovm expressed the view that all present were agreed 

 that hard seeds were " live " seeds and capable of germination 

 at some time. The investigations carried out in his country 

 were always directed to the determination of the agricultural 

 value of hard seeds. 



When the meeting resumed, after a short interval for tea, 

 a paper on the subject of hard seeds of clover and broken seedlings, 

 which had been prepared by Messrs. G. Pammer and J. Schindler, 

 of Vienna, was considered. The paper, which is appended, was 



X £8801 n -J 



