~ 43 ~ 
seed were strewn upon the upper one of these disks and 
covered with two similar disks of blotting paper and one of 
^d b o f rd. f he crumpled paper was thoroughly wetted, 
* G r n i S ? nd see< ^ P ut * n place, and enough water added 
to nil the bottom of the tumbler to the depth of about half 
an inch, and placed on a box behind the sitting room stove 
1 he water that evaporated had fo be replaced, and required 
the addition of a tablespoonful night and morning. The 
tests were continued for fourteen days ; the record is as 
tollows :— 
RESULTS OF SPROUTING EXPERIMENTS. 
No. of I 
Sample. 
Quality. 
Years Old. 
Number of 
Seeds 
to the 
Pound. 
Seeds 
Taken. 
Seeds 
Rotted. 
Seeds Left. 
Seeds 
Sprouted. 
Average 
per cent. 
Sprouted. 
1 
Prime seed. 
2 
827 j 
100 
0 
0 
100 
1 
3 
96.0 
100 
0 
8 
92 
2 
Prime seed. 
2 
228,818 | 
100 
1 
9 
90 
} 
92.0 
100 
0 
6 
94 
3 
Prime seed. 
2 
208,021 j 
100 
1 
7 
92 
95.5 
♦ 
100 
1 
0 
99 
4 
Prime seed... 
2 
3 
100 
1 
13 
86 
} 
. t 
100 
5 
5 
90 
88.0 
5 
Prime seed. 
3 
s 
100 
0 
2 
98 
. 1 
100 
0 
1 
99 
98.5 
6 
Prime seed. 
6 
5 
100 
5 
1 
94 
i 
93.0 
. 1 
100 
5 
3 
92 
7 
Screenings, first quality .... 
1 
259,340 | 
100 
23 
11 
66 
\ 
66.5 
100 
20 
13 
67 
8 
Screenings, first quality .... 
2 
344,123 j 
100 
42 
7 
51 
} 
55.5 
100 
29 
11 
60 
9 
Screenings, first quality. 
3 
266,233 | 
100 
24 
1 
75 
) 
79.0 
100 
16 
1 
83 
10 
Screenings, second quality... 
2 
331,383 | 
100 
59 
7 
34 
f 
38.0 
100 
53 
5 
42 
11 
Screenings, third quality .. 
1 
312,385 | 
100 
66 
1 
33 
l 
38.5 
— 
• —- 
100 
48 
5 
47 j 
The seed designated as “left ” or hard seed,make from 
r -5 to 9 per cent, of the samples of prime seed and from i 
to 12 per cent, of the screenings. These seem not to im¬ 
bibe water for a long time, but eventually they do when 
they swell and sprout in large numbers. The hard seed 
remaining at the end of the sprouting tests were put to¬ 
gether and the test continued for an addional twenty days, 
when 78 per cent, of them had sprouted, 13 percent, rotted, 
and 9 per cent, were still left. This explains, in part at 
east, the observations that some alfalfa seed seems to lie 
dormant for a time. 
d he spi outing tests were continued for from 13 to 16 
ays, but a sufficiently accurate estimate of the germinating 
