370 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXI, No. s 
month of September of three different years, so that environmental con¬ 
ditions might be identical with those of the celery fields. 
After determining the maximum age at which spores of Septoria retain 
their vitality, it was necessary to determine also just how long celery 
seed remains viable. Seeds of different ages were collected from several 
reliable seed firms (numbered from i to 7 in Table I) and tested to 
determine the percentage of germination. Two hundred seeds of each 
year represented under each firm were used in making the tests. These 
tests were repeated three times during the autumn of 1919 in order to 
verify results. The percentage of germination given in Table I is the 
average of the three tests. 
Table I.— Percentage of germination of celery seed of different ages o 
Seed firm. 
S years old. 
4 years old. 
3 years old. 
2 years old. 
i year old. 
I. 
Per cent. 
6. O 
Per cent. 
31. 6 
Per cent. 
34-4 
Per cent. 
34-6 
Per cent . 
Ik 5 °* 3 
1 * 47.8 
*41.0 
35-0 
52.0 
II. 8 
3 2 - 0 
35 -o 
40. 2 
38.8 
40. 2 
55 -o 
6. 
8.4 
5 -1 
48.6 
62. 5 
0 Blanks indicate that no samples were obtained. 
6 American-grown seed; all other seed French grown. 
From Table I it is apparent that celery seed germinates well at from 1 
to 4 years of age but that at 5 years the percentage of germination is so 
reduced that it would be inadvisable to use seed of this age. American- 
grown celery seed gave a lower percentage of germination than French- 
grown seed. This explains why in No. 3 the percentage of germination of 
i-year-old seed is lower than that for 2-year-old seed. The writer is 
aware that the percentage of germination of most of the 1-year-old 
seed presented in Table I is slightly below that of the United States 
standard of germination (60 to 65 per cent), but since all tests were 
made under the same conditions the results are relative, and, therefore, 
admit of comparison. 
By purchasing seed 1 or 2 years old and retaining it until it is 3 or 4 
years old the grower not only eliminates the fungus but has the oppor¬ 
tunity to test the seed for pureness of strain, quality of plant produced, 
and elimination of seed weak in vitality. 
HOT-WATER METHOD OF SEED DISINFECTION 
It can be readily seen that any method of surface disinfection is in¬ 
sufficient to destroy the spores embedded in pycnidia in the pericarp of 
the seed. Other investigators have devised various means of meeting 
