Seed-testing 



401 



Perhaps a better device is the sawdust box. Two or 

 three inches of clean sawdust that has been soaked with 

 warm water is placed in a box. In the smoothed packed 

 sawdust is spread a stout wet cloth, on which the seeds 

 may be placed or scattered. Cover with another warm wet 

 cloth, over which place a thick cloth sawdust pad, well 

 pressed down. Keep the box at a living-room temperature. 

 When the time has come for examination (six to nine days 

 for corn, less for radishes and some other things, more for 

 carrots, parsnips, and celery), the pad and upper cloth are 

 removed and the seeds exposed. Determine the percentage 

 of seed that has germinated, and what proportion is most 

 vigorous and apparently strong enough to make good 

 plants. If just one hundred seeds were placed on the cloth, 

 the calculation will be easier. Sometimes the under cloth 

 is ruled off into squares, by pencil, and the seeds from each 

 ear or fruit placed together. Any ear showing a poor 

 or weak kernel should be discarded for seed. 



The " rag-doll " tester is now popular. It is merely a 

 canton flannel roll of seeds. A strip of the cloth about 

 6 inches wide and 30 inches long is laid on the table and 

 the seeds are spread on it. It is then rolled up and tied 

 loosely, and placed in a pail of lukewarm water for about 

 12 hours. The water is then poured off, and the doll is 

 kept in the covered moist pail until the seeds sprout. 



Percentages and longevity. 



Seeds should hardly be expected to give 100 per cent 

 of sprouting. Some species are habitually lower than 

 others. Perhaps 85 to 90 per cent may be considered a 



