312  Annual  Report  for  1910  of  the  Botanist. 
tested  for  Members  were  little,  if  at  all,  inferior  to  those  of 
better  seasons. 
The  samples  of  the  seeds  of  natural  grasses  were  in  almost 
every  case  as  good  as  one  could  wish  for,  both  from  the  point  of 
view  of  germination  and  purity.  Foreign-grown  clovers  also 
germinated  well,  and  only  4 per  cent,  of  the  samples  contained 
seeds  of  dodder.  The  English-grown  crop,  judging  from  the 
few  samples  received,  was  equal  to  the  foreign-grown  in  its 
germinating  capacity,  though  as  the  seed  aged  its  value  fell  off 
rapidly. 
The  cereals  received  for  testing  did  not  show  such  satis- 
factory results.  This  was,  in  all  probability,  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  grain  in  most  cases  was  home-grown  and  home- 
cleaned,  and  the  senders,  recognising  its  deficiencies,  merely 
required  to  know  how  much  extra  should  be  planted  in  order 
to  secure  a full  plant.  Oats  proved  to  be  especially  bad,  the 
average  germinating  capacity  of  the  samples  tested  being  only 
62  per  cent.  An  explanation  of  the  fact  is  almost  certainly  to 
be  found  in  the  partial  failure  of  the  crop  in  1909  brought 
about  by  the  attacks  of  the  frit-fly. 
At  the  same  time  two  excessively  bad  samples  of  the  French 
variety  of  wheat  grown  in  England  and  purchased  as  seed 
corn,  were  sent  for  testing  in  each  case  after  a complete  failure 
to  obtain  a plant.  With  one  of  the  samples  a report  was  sent 
that  90  per  cent,  of  the  grain  must  have  failed  to  grow. 
Germination  tests  confirmed  this  result. 
The  most  unsatisfactory  seeds  examined  were  those  of  the 
1909  mangold  seed  crop.  Most  of  the  samples  contained  large 
percentages  of  immature  seeds  in  which  the  embryos  had  failed 
to  develop  completely.  Even  where  the  seed  was  large  and 
sound  the  germinating  capacity  fell  off  rapidly  whilst  the  seed 
was  in  store.  One  sample  known  to  produce  170  plants  per 
100  grains  when  harvested  only  gave  80  plants  per  100  at 
sowing  time,  and  in  tests  made  in  August  this  value  had  fallen 
to  about  50  plants  per  100.  This  rapid  failure  of  the  seeds  was 
more  pronounced  than  usual  this  season.  In  view  of  its  occur- 
rence, Members  purchasing  seed  should  require  a guarantee 
of  the  germinating  capacity  at  the  time  of  delivery  instead 
of  the  original  value  which  is  generally  quoted.  Further 
seeds  to  be  tested  should  be  sent  to  the  Botanist  at  the  earliest 
opportunity,  not,  as  one  Member  sent  them,  after  they  had  been 
decaying  in  the  soil  for  a month. 
Fungoid  Diseases  of  Plants. 
The  majority  of  the  diseases  sent  for  determination  were, 
naturally,  those  due  to  the  common  fungoid  parasites.  Rust, 
smut,  and  finger-and-toe  provided  the  bulk  of  the  inquiries, 
