36 
Franklin Kidd & Cyril West. 
injurious effect upon germination and upon the yield per plant was 
less when the temperature during soaking was low. What did 
appear, on the other hand, was a markedly greater injury at 10°C 
than at 20°C. This effect showed itself by a reduction in the number 
of germinations at 10 ft C and a still more marked reduction in the 
number of plants surviving at the end of three weeks. 1 This effect 
was very clear, even for such short periods of immersion as six 
hours (Table I). 
Table I. 
Period of soaking under 
4 cms. of distilled water. 
0 hrs. 
6 hrs. 
24 hrs. 
48hrs. 
72 hrs. 
Percentage of plants that 
survived after 3 weeks. 
Soaked at 10°C 
„ 20°C 
96% 
96% 
40% 
66 % 
36% 
48% 
32% 
60% 
60% 
64% 
Dry Weight of 100 
plants. 
Soaked at10°C 
„ „ 20 °C 
gms. 
23-27 
23'27 
gms. 
21-34 
21-47 
gms. 
20- 05 
21- 04 
gms. 
13-92 
17-93 
gms. 
17-80 
16-28 
The seeds were sown in good garden soil in a cool greenhouse immediately 
after the soaking treatment. 
Further experiments have since been carried out with peas 
(Sutton’s “Maincrop”), and the results obtained were essentially 
the same as those recorded above for dwarf beans. The results of 
a typical experiment are given in the following table and figure. 
Table II. 
The seeds were soaked under 4 cms. of distilled water and were sown 
(together with the untreated controls) in good garden soil in a cool greenhouse 
immediately after the soaking treatment. 25 seeds were used in each 
experiment. 
Period of 
Soaking 
0 hrs. 
24 hours. 
48 hours. 
72 hours. 
Temp, of 
the water 
used 
5°C 
10°C 
20 °C 
30°C 
5°C 
10°C 
20 °C 
30° C 
5°C 
10 °C 
20°C 
30 n C 
Number 
of Germ¬ 
inations 
after : — 
7 days 
14 „ 
21 „ 
28 ,, 
35 ,, 
17 
18 
18 
18 
18 
5 
5. 
5 
5 
5 
9 . 
9 
10 
10 
10 
13 
13 
13 
14 
14 
11 
9* 
9 
9 
9 
2 
2 
3 
3 
3 
8 
9 
9 
9 
9 
9 
10 
10 
10 
lo 
6 
7 
7 
7 
7 
1 
1 
2 
2 
2 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
5 
7 
7 
7 
7 
1 
1 
2 
2 
2 
* Two died. 
1 This curious temperature effect appears to be observed only under 
conditions of actual immersion in water, for it has frequently been found in 
exhaustive experiments dealing with the question of seed storage that whereas 
at ordinary temperatures (20°C circa) seeds very quickly lose their vitality if 
their water-content is high, cold storage at about 5°C is efficient in maintaining 
the vitality of such seeds (cf. Heinrich, 2). 
