DISEASED SEEDS 177 



seeds are planted, they may introduce the 

 parasite into the soil. 



Shriveled Seeds. Sweet pea seeds, as 

 sold by seedsmen, as put up in small paper 

 packages. In very few cases are all the 

 seeds plump and full. A certain per cent 

 are shriveled and give the appearance of be- 

 ing diseased. Such seeds are not always 

 diseased. These shriveled seeds often ger- 

 minate as readily as the plump ones, and as 

 they swell cannot be told from others. It 

 seems that the shriveling is correlated with 

 loss of water, and this seems to be charac- 

 teristic of some varieties more than of 

 others. However, it is difficult to tell 

 whether such seeds in the long run produce 

 weaker plants which are more susceptible 

 to disease. A small percentage of the 

 shriveled seeds fail to germinate. Some 

 of these no doubt are hard seeds which can- 

 not germinate because of their impervious 



