16 



VITALITY OF BURIED SEEDS. 



Table III. — Results of tests of seeds that had not completely lost their vitality while 



buried — Continued. 



s 



Labora- 



Kind of seed. 



Chamber tests. 



Greenhouse tests in sand. 



x - 



tory 

 test 

 num- 

 ber. 



Tem- 

 pera- 

 ture. 



Origi- 

 nal 

 sample. 



Con- 

 trol. 



Con- 

 trol. 



Depth of burial. 



m 



6-8 

 inches. 



18-22 36-42 

 inches, inches. 



110 ! 16218 





° C. 

 20-30 



Per ct. 



97 



Per ct. 

 98.5 



Per ct. 

 93 



Per ct. 



90.5 



Per ct. 

 96.5 



Per ct. 

 92 5 



Ills' 1 16243 



Abutilon abutilon 





1123 16189 





















Average percentage of 

 germination 





















63.2 



57.5 



53.2 



20.5 



26.5 



31 











a Many had'germinated and afterwards decayed. 



b Fresh sprouts found when samples were taken up. These sprouted seeds were not thrown away, 

 but were transplanted with the remainder of the sample and tested in sand in greenhouse, conse- 

 quently those which produced seedlings are included in the percentages of germination given in the 

 table. These fresh sprouts were found as follows: 



Sam- 







Sam- 







Sam- 







Sam- 







ple 

 num- 



Depth. 



Sprouts. 



ple 

 num- 



Depth. 



Sprouts. 



ple 

 num- 



Depth. 



Sprouts. 



ple 

 num- 



Depth. 



Sprouts. 



ber. 







ber. 







ber. 





1 



ber. 









Inches. 







Inches. 







Inches. 



1 



1 





Inches. 





39 



36-42 



1 



59 



36-42 



1 



71 



18-22 



Many. | 



92 



18-22 



Many. 



53 



18-22 



3 



60 



6- 8 



1 



73 



6- 8 



4 



92 



36-42 



Many. 



54 



18-22 



1 



67 



18-22 



2 



74 



18-22 



Few. 



100 



18-22 



1 



55 



18-22 



1 



67 



36-42 



2 



74 



36-42 



Many. 



106 



6- 8 



2 



58 



18-22 



10 



68 



6- 8 



1 



77 



18-22 



10 



108 



6- 8 



Many. 



58 



36-42 







69 



18-22 



Few. 



77 



36-42 



5 









59 



6- 8 



4 



69 



36-42 



Many. 



78 



6- 8 



1 









59 



18-22 



2 



71 



6- 8 



Many. 



92 



6- 8 



Many. 









c Clipped seed germinated, 59 per cent. 

 d Clipped. 



e Germinated, 84 per cent at 20° C. 

 /Clipped seed germinated, 100 per cent. 

 a Tests interrupted. 



In Table III the names of the seeds are arranged in the order of 

 their vitality as determined by the germination tests made in the 

 greenhouse. The list of seeds tested begins with Festuca elatior 

 (meadow fescue), which showed only one viable 'seed, that being from 

 the 18 to 22 inch depth, and ends with Alsine media (common chick- 

 weed), in which nearly all of the seeds retained their power of germi- 

 nation throughout the entire period that they remained in the soil. 

 The germination of the latter, when sown in the greenhouse, was 

 almost perfect. (See PI. II, fig. 1.) 



In many instances some of the seeds had germinated while they were 

 buried. In most cases the seeds which had germinated afterwards 

 decayed. In the larger seeds this could usually be determined with- 

 out much difficulty, but with many of the smaller seeds no such obser- 

 vations could be made. However, it is more than probable that many 

 of the smaller seeds which showed a low germination when trans- 

 planted in the greenhouse had germinated and afterwards decayed 

 before being dug up, but this could not be satisfactorily determined 

 by a hurried field examination. Many of the pots also contained fresh 



