178 



SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 



strings or rubber bands, place them loosely in a box of 

 moist sawdust or in folds of clean, wet gunny sacks, and 

 set them in a warm place for five or six days. If there is 

 danger of freezing in the schoolroom, the box should be 

 taken to some home until the rolls are to be opened and 

 the count of the germinable seeds is to be made. The box 

 should be covered with a screen to prevent the mice from 

 entering ; and the sawdust or the folds of sacks should 

 not be allowed to dry out. 



Fig. 78. — Some rag dolls. 



Covnesy loica State College- 



After five or six days, carefully remove the rolls from the 

 box and unroll, taking care again not to displace the 

 kernels from their respective squares. 



Conclusion. — Arrange in your notebook a table as 

 shown on page 179. 



Figure the percentage of strong, weak and dead seed in 

 each ear, and also in the twelve ears, which you have tested, 

 taken as a whole. 



If a perfect stand from strong seed yields sixty bushels 

 of corn per acre, at what rate should your twelve-ear 



