Cleaned^ Treated and Tested Seed 19 
seeds as they come without discrimination and including^ shriveled as 
well as plump seeds. Selection of plump seeds only would fail to 
give a representative test. Scatter 100 seeds on each blotter or cloth 
Fig. 6.—Germinating corn between the folds of Canton flannel. Use two dinner 
plates, one inverted over the other. 
SO that no two seeds touch each other. If the seeds are to be ger¬ 
minated between blotters or cloths, the end of the strip should be 
folded over the seeds before the top plate is adjusted. Then cover 
with a plate of glass or another dinner plate, thus making a moist 
ch amber. 
Do not place the plates on a window sill or over the stove. Keep 
the tests in that part of the house where the temperature is most uni¬ 
form. The seed bed should be kept moist during the test. Count the 
sprouts according to the length of time designated in Table IV. 
Attention is called to seeds of legumes (alfalfa, red clover, alsike 
( lover, etc.) which remain hard at the end of the given period for 
test. These are known as hard seeds, which usually grow quickly 
when the seed coats are scratched or broken. One-third of the num¬ 
ber of hard seeds may he considered as sprouts and added to the per¬ 
centage of germination. 
A few varieties of garden seed germinate best in sand. (Table 
IV.) These seeds can he sown in pots or small wooden flats (Pig. 7) 
with a light covering of sand. The pots or flats should he shaded, as 
direct sunlight causes rapid evaporation. The sand should he moist¬ 
ened lightly every day. 
Corn should be germinated in soil when possible (Fig. 7). Ger¬ 
mination tests may he made in flats or pots, whichever is convenient. 
Sprouts in soil can he counted as they appear. It is advisable to al¬ 
low three or four days additional when tests are made in soil, because 
it requires more time for the sprout to break through the soil than to 
make the same growth between folds of Canton flannel. 
Canton flannel over sawdust is the most popular method of mak¬ 
ing individual ear tests of corn. The ordinary soil flat (Fig. 7) is 
filled with well moistened sawdust to about three-fourths its depth. 
