42 Bepokt of the Director of the 
Or expressing in percentages : 
Vegetation 
percentage. 
Per cent of 
plants sur- 
vived winter* 
"TTCT • J. _ „ "I'll _ 1 
Winterkilled. 
First ten rows 
74 
73 
30 
34 
70 
66 
73 
32 
68 
Of the 21,681 seed planted, but 5,090 plants remained the following 
spring, or 23 per cent; that is, of the seeding 77 per'cent was lost to 
the crop. 
Using over 1,000 seed for a trial, the variation in the vegetation per- 
centage between the rows is from 67 to 83 per cent; in the survivals 
through the winter, from 20 to 46 per cent, or the winter killing 
between these duplicate trials varied from 54 to 80 per cent of the 
plants that went through the winter. This variation is sufficiently 
large to discredit observations between plats containing this number 
of plants. When we figure, however, on the ten rows, we find that by 
using 10,000 plants, we secure sufficient uniformity. By dividing the 
plat into four parts of five rows each, we note the variation between 
the vegetation percentage is from 71 to 75; and for that of the winter 
survivals from 31 to 37. Probably many errors arise in experimenting 
by the overlooking of the numerical conditions which insure safety in 
comparative calculations. Had these trials, instead of being duplica- 
tions been of seed from various sources, the temptation to have called 
the seed used on row 12 the best, and that on row 20 the poorest, would 
have been great; or if the results had been examined the spring follow- 
ing the planting, row 1 would have naturally been ascribed to the 
better seed, and row 3 to a poorer seed. 
BOTANICAL NOTES. 
In February some whole corn was fed to a cow. The washed dung 
furnished a number of kernels which had apparently passed unchanged 
through the digestive organs. Twenty-five of such kernels were dried 
and placed in a germinating apparatus. Thirteen, or 52 per cent 
germinated. 
In March, some more whole corn was fed to a cow. Samples of dung 
containing apparently undigested kernels of corn were placed in a pot 
in the greenhouse, and left from March 21 to April 13, when all the 
corn had rotted, without germination. Parallel with this trial, thirty 
