118 
N. C. AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
months those kept wet were found to have all decayed. Of those kept 
dry a little more than one-third (24 out of 60) produced ascophores 
normally. In an out-door test a large quantity of sclerotia was collected, 
placed in the lettuce beds at one-half inch depth in March. These 
were examined twice during the early part of the summer and were 
all sound. The third examination was made August 11, 1909 (five 
months and eleven days after placing them in the soil) and it was 
found that they had all decayed and the only thing left was the hard, 
black, parenchymatous, shell-like outside coverings and a very few 
of the thread-like stumps of stipes, abortive attempts at germination. 
While the longevity of the sclerotia under conditions most favorable 
to them has not yet been determined, it is evident that under usual con¬ 
ditions their number must be largely reduced by decay. 
Germination of Sclerotia. 
To determine the conditions most favorable to their germination 
sclerotia were placed: 
(1) In ordinary three-inch flower pots filled with soil and these 
placed in a shallow dish of water. The pots were covered with strips 
of bibulous paper with the ends bent down into the water. The 
sclerotia were pressed into the soil until they were just level with 
the surface. 
(2) Similar pots were prepared in the same way and placed in 
the incubator room and covered with bell jars instead of paper. 
(3) Pots were placed outdoors on the north side of the building 
in a shady and cool location. 
(4) Pots prepared as in the first case but not covered with paper 
were kept in the laboratory taking precaution only to keep water in the 
dish in which they were placed. 
Ascophores were produced in all cases except under the incubator 
room conditions in which case no ascophores were formed until the 
pots were removed to the laboratory. The fourth method was found 
to be the most satisfactory and convenient for laboratory use. 
Apotliecia -produced under unequal illumination are strongly posi¬ 
tively phototropic turning their disk faces toward the source of light. 
An experiment was made to determine the maximum depth in the 
soil at which sclerotia would germinate and produce apotliecia. 
Three six-incli flower pots w T ere filled with soil and each pot was 
divided into two compartments by glass partitions, sclerotia were then v 
planted at depths of 1-2, 1, 1 1-2, 2, 2 1-2, and 3 inches. ISTo apothecia 
were formed from sclerotia- placed at a greater depth than 1 1-2 inches 
and by far the largest number of apothecia was formed from sclerotia 
at the minimum of the above depths. 
To study the effect of stirring the soil over the sclerotia when in 
conditions favorable to their germination sclerotia were planted in 
soil in a two-foot flat in the laboratory and kept properly watered. 
Half of the flat was left intact and undisturbed. In the other half 
the soil surface was stirred or hoed every two weeks. In the undis- 
