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Vol. XXI, No. a 
(9) The outer layer of the seed coat may be broken over the embryo 
without injury resulting from treatment with copper sulphate, the inner 
layer being impermeable to it. 
(10) Stunted roots, rather than injured plumules, are characteristic 
of copper-sulphate injury, because machine thrashing usually breaks 
the seed coat directly over the radicle. 
(11) The damage that will be done to seed wheat by the copper- 
sulphate treatment for smut and by saprophytic fungi can be predicted 
by examination of the physical condition of the seed. All these troubles 
can be reduced by greater care in thrashing the seed wheat so that the 
seed coats are not so badly broken. 
(12) Perfect seed coats are also an absolute protection against short 
exposures to strong formaldehyde solutions and are partial protection 
against post-treatment injury after disinfection with formaldehyde. 
(13) The seed coats of Turkestan barley and varieties of the same 
structural type are broken at the hilum in thrashing, either by machine 
or by hand. Death results from exposing such kernels to strong copper- 
sulphate solutions for even short periods or to weaker solutions for longer 
periods. Barley kernels left attached to pieces of the rachis were not 
injured by these treatments. 
(14) Injury to wheat seed always occurred after exposures to sat¬ 
urated copper-sulphate solutions for periods longer than six hours and 
sometimes in less time. This fact raises a question as to the perfect 
semipermeability of the testas of wheat to this poison. 
(15) Temperature of the solution was found to be a factor in the 
resistance of wheat to injury from long immersions in saturated copper- 
sulphate solutions, the germination being poorer as the temperature 
increased. 
LITERATURE CITED 
(1) Bokorny, Thomas. 
1914. ElNIGE ORIENTIERENDE VERSUCHE UBER DIE BEHANDLUNG DER SAMEN 
mit GIFTEN ZUM ZWECKE DER DESINFEKTION. In Biochein. Ztschr., 
v. 62, p. 58-88. 
(2) Bolley, H. L. 
1913. WHEAT. N. Dak Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 107, 94 p., 45 fig. 
(3) Brown, Adrian J. 
1907. ON THE EXISTENCE OF A SEMI-PERMEABLE MEMBRANE ENCLOSING THE 
SEEDS OF SOME OF THE graminE^E. In Ann. Bot., v. 21, p. 79-87. 
(4) - 
1909. THE SELECTIVE PERMEABILITY OF THE COVERINGS OF THE SEEDS OF 
hordeum vulgare. In Proc. Roy. Soc. [London], ser. B, v. 81, no. 
B546, p. 82-93. 
(5) Burmester, Hermann. 
1908. VERGLEICHENDE UNTERSUCHUNGEN UBER DEN EINFLUSS DER VER- 
SCHIEDENEN SAMENBEIZMETHODEN AUF DIE KEIMFAHIGKEIT GEBEIZTEN 
SAATGUTES UND UBER IHRE PILZTOTENDE WIRKUNG. In Ztschr. 
Pflanzenkrank., Bd. 18, Heft. 3, p. 154-187. 
