64 
2sT. C. Experiment Station 
In Experiment 2, in which Ca0 2 is used as the desiccating agent, germina¬ 
tion was prolonged by reason of the induced condition of secondary dormacy. 
At the end of 27 days, 6 seeds of lot 1 had not germinated, 3 of the 6 
being dead and 3 having hard, dry seed coats. The embryos of the 3 seeds 
with hard coats imbibed water and germinated promptly after the seed 
coats were removed. In lot 3, germination was greatly prolonged increas¬ 
ing slowly from 60 per cent on the 6th day to 90 per cent on the 139th 
day at which time all remaining seeds were dead. 
In Experiment 3, seed of the 1920 crop were stored over concentrated 
H 2 S0 4 and in Experiment 4 over dry Ca0 2 . In these two experiments the 
seeds were highly desiccated as indicated by the percentages of water lost, 
but germination was only slightly prolonged. In the case of lot 1 of each 
experiment, the germination was 92 and 90 per cent respectively in 26 
days while the checks gave a germination of 98 per cent in 7 days. No 
note was made of the condition of the seeds which had not yet germinated 
at the end of 26 days. A portion of these might have germinated later 
if they had been kept for a longer time. In the case of lot 2 all seeds 
which had not germinated on the 14th day were dead. 
In Experiment 5, seeds of the 1921 crop were stored over concentrated 
H 2 S0 4 . The germination of lot 1, removed from the desiccator at the end 
of 196 days, increased from 48 per cent on the 9th day to 70 per cent on 
the 35th day. At that time, 8 of the remaining 15 ungerminated seeds 
were dead and 7 were still alive. The untreated check yielded perfect germ¬ 
ination by the 9th day. Only 60 per cent of the seeds of lot 2 germinated 
in 17 days while 94 per cent of the untreated seeds grew in the same time. 
Lot 3 was removed from the desiccator at the end of 540 days. The germ¬ 
ination increased by small increments from 16 per cent on the 3d day 
to 64 per cent on the 102d day when the experiment was discontinued. 
96 per cent of the untreated seeds germinated in 4 days. The seeds used 
as checks in all the above mentioned experiments were drawn originally 
from the same bag as the treated seeds and were handled in the same way 
except that they were kept in the original bag while the treated seeds were 
stored in the desiccators. 
In 3 out of 5 experiments in which cotton seed were desiccated with 
chemicals, the period required for complete germination of the viable seeds 
was markedly prolonged in comparison with the time required for germ¬ 
ination of the undesiccated seed. The treated seed are put into a condi 
tion of more or less complete secondary dormancy or restricted activity. 
This is due primarily if not wholly to the desiccation of the testas of 
such extreme nature that they become non-wetable with water at the 
germination temperature of about 25° C. In the presence of abundant 
moisture the desiccated condition of the seed coat is reversed slowly at 
a rate which differs with individual seeds and which is probably dependent 
upon the degree of desiccation of individual seeds. Consequently the 
germination of such seeds is slow and very irregular. 
The phenomenon of delayed germination of seeds is exhibited by a very 
considerable number of species. It is due to conditions which fall into two 
general categories, namely, those resident in the embryos and those due 
ito restrictions imposed by the seed coats. 7 Thus the embryos of hawthorn 5 
