82 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXVIII, No. 1 
cent higher than treated seed sown in the soil. Evidently, many of the retarded 
or abnormal seedlings which survive on the blotter would not survive in the soil. 
The reliability of the test in greenhouse soil when compared with a field-soil test 
was confirmed in further trials and therefore was adopted in the germination 
studies which follow. 
The effects of the modified hot-water treatment on germination were studied 
first on 33 varieties of wheat, 15 of which were grown on Arlington Experiment 
Farm, Va., and 18 at Chico, Calif., in 1921. A small portion of each of the 
varieties was treated on December 12, 1921, and dried six days at room tempera¬ 
ture, after which 100 untreated and 100 treated kernels of each variety were 
sown in sc*fl in greenhouse flats on December 18, 1921. Germination counts were 
made one month later and the results are presented in Table III. In this and 
other tables in which the wheat varieties are classified, the classification of Clark, 
Martin, and Ball (5) has been followed. 
Table III.— Percentages of germination of machine-threshed seed of 33 wheat varie¬ 
ties, untreated or treated by the modified hot-water method 
C.I. 
Percentage of ger¬ 
mination 
Variety 
Source 
No. 
Un¬ 
treated 
Treated 
Hard red spring wheats: 
Haynes Bluestem. 
2874 
Chico, Calif. 
92 
44 
Marquis. 
3641 
.do. 
86 
60 
Preston. 
3081 
.do. 
76 
18 
Durum wheats: 
Kubanka. 
1440 
.do. 
74 
38 
Monad. 
3320 
.do. 
77 
46 
Hard red winter wheats: 
Kanred. 
5146 
.do. 
93 
40 
Minturki. 
6155 
.do. 
77 
12 
Turkey. 
1558 
.do. 
92 
47 
Soft red winter wheats: 
Fulcaster. 
6162 
Arlington Experiment Farm, Va.. 
.do. 
90 
58 
Bearded Purplestraw. 
1911-1 
94 
57 
Dietz.~. 
1981 
.do. 
97 
70 
Lancaster. 
1945 
.do. 
88 
69 
Stoner. 
2980 
.do. 
72 
54 
Fultz. 
3598 
.do. 
88 
57 
Harvest Queen. 
4882 
.do. 
92 
27 
Leap.’. 
4823 
.do.. . . 
94 
64 
Mammoth Red. 
2008 
.do. 
87 
57 
Mediterranean. 
1930 
.do. 
88 
60 
Michigan Amber. 
4864 
.do. 
93 
81 
Minhardi. 
5149 
Chico, Calif. 
90 
40 
Poole. 
3489 
Arlington Experiment Farm, Va.. 
.do. 
92 
61 
Red Rock. 
5976 
73 
40 
Shepherd. 
6163 
.do..... 
93 
67 
White wheats: 
Baart. 
1697 
Chico, Calif. 
95 
57 
Dawson. 
6161 
Arlington Experiment Farm, Va.. 
Chico, Calif. 
93 
66 
Dicklow. 
3663 
92 
51 
Federation. 
4734 
.do.. 
94 
60 
Genesee Giant. 
1744 
.do. 
77 
62 
Hard Federation. 
4733 
.do. 
92 
76 
Hybrid 128. 
4512 
.do. 
87 
38 
Little Club. 
4066 
.do. 
89 
39 
Pacific Bluestem. 
4067 
.do. 
93 
69 
Regenerated Defiance. 
3703 
.do. 
80 
60 
Average. 
87.6 
52.7' 
Table III shows that the treated wheat in this experiment was injured severely,, 
germinating 34.9 per cent less than the untreated, on an average. 
During the experiment, it was observed that seed coats in many of the varie¬ 
ties were badly broken, and showed unmistakable signs of severe threshing 
injury. In this connection it is noteworthy that over 50 years ago Nobbe (7) 
pointed out that the unbroken seed coat is very effective in protecting the embryo* 
