SUMMARY 
1. In a study of the reserve food content of small grain seeds, 
the term ''sprout value" has been assigned to the moisture-free 
weight of the maximum plant growth derived from the seed when 
planted and grown in a nonnutritive quartz medium and in 
absolute darkness. Under these conditions, no photos3mthesis 
nor intake of soil solutes is possible, and the moisture-free sub- 
stance of the seedling is derived from the reserve food material 
of the seed. 
2. As an average for all the grades of wheat seed tested in 
1913 and 1914, the total sprout value of the seed equaled 54.2 
per cent and 46.3 per cent of the weight of seed planted in 1913 
and 1914 respectively. In other words, 50.2 per cent of the seed 
substance was recovered in the sprout as an average for the two 
years. The total loss of substance not recovered in either the 
sprout or the inert seed residue averaged 38.5 per cent during 
1913 and 1914. 
3. As an average for all tests during two years, 1913 and 
1914, the ratios for the moisture-free weight of unselected seed 
to the large and small seed were respectively 100:127 and 100:85, 
while the ratios for the total sprout value were 100:123 and 
100:88 respectively. This indicates a rather close relationship 
between the size of seed and its sprout value. 
4. As an average for three tests, the carbon dioxide liberated 
from wheat seeds by respiration during fourteen days' growth in 
the dark in a nonnutritive mediimi amounted to 39.22 per cent 
of the original moisture-free weight of the seed. The sprout value 
of the same seed equaled 47.28 per cent of the original dry mat- 
ter of the seed. 
5. Very small or shrunken wheat seeds are at a marked dis- 
advantage in comparison with large seeds, when planted at the 
unusual depth of 5 or 6 inches. 
6. The separation of the mature crop of wheat, grown at the 
normal rate of planting, into individual plants was accompanied 
by an average error of 7.6 per cent. For this reason, the number 
of individual plants surviving from large and small seeds at 
harvest was not determined in these experiments. 
7. The relative production of large and small seeds of wheat 
was determined when planted alone, and when grown in com- 
petition by alternating the seeds in rows planted at the normal 
field rate. The small seeds weighed 66 per cent as much as 
the large seeds and had a sprout value 68 per cent as large. 
The germinations of the two grades were practically equal. 
