890 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXXI, No. 9 
Tests were also made in different media and germinators, but with 
poor results. The invariably low germination obtained in all of the 
tests, even over long periods up to 200 days, led to the belief that the 
quality of the seed itself might be impaired either by storage or 
extraction. As soon, therefore, as new seed could be collected it was 
extracted from the cones under low temperatures and stored in air¬ 
tight containers. A complete series of new experiments, covering 
more than 300 different tests, was then outlined. These embraced 
stratification in different media for various lengths of time, with or 
without heat or cold treatment, soaking for different periods of time 
in acids and various chemicals, heating and freezing the seed, abrasion 
of the seed coat by cutting or other mechanical treatment, and 
studies on the need of after-ripening and necessity for a period of rest. 
STRATIFICATION 
Stratification of the seed as a preliminary treatment was suggested 
at the outset, for in this manner the seed would receive a treatment 
in bulk under conditions similar to those in the seed bed but without 
sowing and carrying the bed for two seasons. 
The seed was laid 5 inches deep in 10-inch wooden boxes, with tops 
and bottoms of wire mesh to protect from mice and admit heat, cold, 
moisture, and provide drainage. Sand, sawdust, clay loam, apd 
duff from the forest floor were used in parallel boxes. One series of 
these was sunk to the upper level of the box in a sandy bench, another 
in clay loam, a third on moist bottom land under young timber, and 
a fourth in clay loam in a cellar. Repeated installations were made 
March 5, June 6, and September 5, in order to determine the effect of 
the length of time kept in this condition. Sowings from all of these 
were made in the nursery early and late in the spring and autumn of 
the same year, and in the spring of the following year. 
At the time of the first sowing, certain samples were given from 
3 to 30 days additional treatment by heating the seed in moist green¬ 
house sand and from 3 to 9 days in moist cotton flannel in the incu¬ 
bator. In sand the temperature records show a variation from 70° 
to 100° F. and in the incubator from 80° to 102°. 
When the first lots were removed from the stratification boxes, 37 
days after being laid down, from 3.7 to 6.3 per cent of the seed had 
germinated, the lowest percentage being obtained from that sown in 
the clay in the cellar, and the highest in the clay on moist bottom 
land. Decay had also set in, but in no case was more than 1 per cent 
of the seeds affected, and the greatest amount of decay occurred with 
the highest germination. The germination continued during the 
heating in the sand and in the incubator and in some cases attained 
1 per cent in 9 days, and in one case 8.6 per cent in the greenhouse 
sand in 30 days. 
These seeds and also those taken directly from the stratification 
boxes were sowed in the nursery April 20, together with a check 
sowing. Three beds were used, one of which was open, another 
covered with a sphagnum-moss mulch, and a third covered with tar 
and felt paper. Triplicate samples representing each individual 
treatment were thus sowed in parallel series, one in each of these beds. 
The great number of tests and the many mediocre results make it 
futile to give the results in detail. Only the best results from each 
location and medium are given (Table I). 
