SEEDS AND SEED GROWING 
101 
done to determine the sprouting or germinating quali- 
ties of garden seeds. Sprouting tests are made in plates, 
pans, dishes and in various apparatus where soil and 
moisture conditions may be controlled to a greater or less 
degree. Gardeners want to know whether their seeds will 
grow when planted under real conditions, and germina- 
tion tests are regarded more valuable by practical grow- 
ers when carried on under natural conditions. Seeds are 
counted in lots of 25, 50, or better 100, and planted in 
drills. The soil should be in good physical condition and 
watered often enough to keep it moist. When sufficient 
time has been allowed for germination, the plants in each 
row are counted and the percentage determined. Such 
a test may be the means of avoiding losses and disap- 
pointments by sowing seed of low germinating power. 
It requires very little time, and it is a great satisfaction to 
make the main planting with the assurance that a high 
percentage of the seed will grow. Most of the large seed 
houses test the germinating power of their seeds before 
supplying customers. 
Rules and regulations for official seed testing, adopted 
by the standing committee on methods of seed testing of 
the Association of American Colleges and Experiment 
Stations, are published in Circular 34 of the Office of Ex- 
periment Stations. 
The following table shows about the average percent- 
ages of germination of one-year-old seed when planted 
under proper conditions: 
Asparagus 90 
Bean 90 
Beet 140* 
Cabbage 90 
Carrot.' 80 
Cauliflower 80 
Celery 60 
Com, sweet 85 
Cucumber 85 
Eggplant 75 
Lettuce 85 
Muskmelon 85 
Okra 80 
Onion 80 
Parsley 70 
Parsnip 70 
Pea 90 
Radish 90 
Salsify 75 
Spinach 80 
Squash 85 
Tomato 85 
Watermelon 85 
*Botanically a fruit, often containing more than one seed. 
