August, ’23] 
WILLARD: GERMINATION OF SEEDS 
389 
6. It seems that liquid CS 2 poured on most seeds in fumigation will not injure 
them sufficiently to be of practical importance. 
In the directions for killing insects with CS 2 a warning is usually in¬ 
cluded that the bin should be aired out within a short time or the germin¬ 
ation of the seeds is likely to be injured. In the writer’s experience in 
preserving hundreds of small lots of seeds free from insect attack it was 
often inconvenient to do this. This suggested the problem of testing 
the resistance of our common seeds to injury by bisulphide in order 
to discover within what limits the treatment could be varied without 
injuring the seeds. 
E. A. de Ong reported in this Journal (Vol. 12, pp. 343-345) thatmost 
common seeds would withstand treatment at the rate of 30 pounds per 
thousand cubic feet for 42 hours or at 40 pounds per thousand cubic 
feet for 18 hours. Some ten other references on this subject were found 
in the literature but none of them carried the treatment very far either 
as to excessive doses or excessive length of time. 
Methods. The seeds were treated in two-quart Mason jars with the 
usual rubber ring seals. When the seeds were exposed a week or more 
the rubber ring was coated with paraffin to reduce the solvent action of 
the bisulphide on the rubber and then the seal coated with paraffin 
after the jars were closed. The bisulphide was dropped into the jars 
from a burette on sufficient filter paper so that the liquid bisulphide 
did not touch the seeds. Two-tenths cc. of bisulphide to the two-quart 
jar is equivalent to one pound to 118 cubic feet and was considered the 
normal dose. For the treatment with a saturated atmosphere of CS 2 
a four ounce bottle partially filled with bisulphide was carefully lowered 
into the jar before sealing it. The same amount of grain (one pint) 
was placed in each jar. The work was carried out at a constant tem¬ 
perature of 80° F. 
Table 1. Tests of Seeds Treated with 1.6 tc. per Jar 
(68 pounds per 1000 cubic feet) for 21 Days 
Total Germination Total Germination 
Seed Used Check 
Treated 
Seed Used 
Check 
Treated 
Red Clover. 
. .78 
73 
Dent Corn (4 weeks). . 
. .100 
100 
Alsike Clover. 
. 80 
81 
Barley, Oderbrucker. . . 
.. 95 
81 
White Sweet Clover. 
.48 
43 
Barley, White Hulless. 
. . . 98 
32 
Hairy Vetch. 
. .71 
67 
Sweet Corn. 
. . 94 
76 
Garden pea, Marrowfat. . . 
.100 
94 
Oats, Miami. 
.. 88 
58 
Field peas, Canada. 
.94 
84 
Wheat, Portage. 
.. 97 
23 
Soybeans. Manchu. 
. 96 
66 
Rye. 
. . . 72 
49 
Cowpeas, Black. 
..84 
38 
Sorghum, Early Amber. 
.. 95 
31 
Cowpeas, Blackeye. 
, .96 
0 
Buckwheat. 
. . 94 
0 
Navy beans. 
.98 
0 
Timothy. 
. . 97 
67 
Garden Beans, White Kidney 94 
0 
Kentucky Bluegrass. . . . 
. . 83 
64 
Garden Beans, Black Wax. 
.96 
84 
Redtop. 
. . . 91 
88 
