THE SEED : ITS SELECTION AND DISTRIBUTION 59 



carrot, pea, bean, pansy, phlox, tomato, watermelon 

 and lettuce. 



At the end of a little more than one hundred days, one 

 sample of each kind of seed was returned and tested for 

 vitality. Out of one hundred strong seeds of sweet corn 

 stored at Ann Arbor, Michigan, all germinated, while 

 only eighty out of one hundred stored at Mobile, Alabama, 

 germinated. A sample of weaker sweet corn showed only 

 48 per cent germination when stored at Mobile, and 92 per 

 cent at Ann Arbor. The average germination of all seeds 

 at the end of this period ranged from 53.59 per cent at 

 Mobile to 86.23 per cent at Ann Arbor. 



At the end of about two hundred and fifty days, a second 

 sample of each kind of seed was returned from each place 

 and tested. The sample of one hundred strong sweet 

 corn seed from Ann Arbor all germinated except two seeds 

 while only twenty seeds of the sample stored at Mobile 

 did so. The weaker sample of sweet corn showed a ger- 

 mination of twelve per cent at Mobile and of 80 per cent 

 at Ann Arbor. By comparing this with the first test, we 

 see that strong seeds are less injured by an unfavorable 

 climate than are weak ones. 



The onion seed had lost all of its vitality at Mobile at 

 the close of the second test, while at Ann Arbor, ninety- 

 seven out of every hundred seeds were capable of germina- 

 tion. The average germination of all seeds at the second 

 test ranged from 24.31 per cent for those stored at Mobile 

 to 84.58 per cent for those stored at Arm Arbor. The 

 average annual rainfall at Mobile is 91.18 inches, while at 

 Ann Arbor it is 28.58 inches. Do you see the connection 

 between moisture and the vitality of stored seed? 



The table (p. 60), which is taken from a bulletin of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, gives other 

 results of this interesting test. 



