No. 33.] BY 
We can make the following summary for some of the groups: 
B 2 38 
=p q Yield per 100 plants. ,, ne 
S4 325 Bux Bu 
25 Me Hi n a“ Se Lo) 
DO - ¢ gq. a | Pures q Prey 
Be du aPESH ENT Ue ULC! ioke Sone ce 
3 5a Hass 8 8 sas 38 
Pewent corm... oo). 2-6 0-9 66 22 46 602 
weiner eon. 012." o*3 0-8 78 12 23 373 
3. Sweet corn........ 2-4 —1-8 103 23 49 736 
OEE CORN soe a ace 1-1 —4-5 155 48 a! 86 
oF Pop Cori) 664. 
Common pop.... 3-5 0-7 139 26 8 163 
Pearl pop... 2... 2-0 0-6 116 33 8 168 
PCA POP. iki. | iy 1-3 84 10 14 296 
6. Hybrids, known.... 
Various crosses... 1-9 0-7 %2 20 8 1'74. 
%. Hybrids, presumed. 
Flint on dent.... 1-8 0-5 99 19 12 199 
POM ING 2.2.0) 66% 2-4 90 16 4. 74. 
POM On pop... ....'. 1-1 1-4 148 16 8 125 
Seeds. 
In the practical vegetation of seeds it is to be observed that but 
rarely all the plants grow, even from samples of known freshness, and 
of careful gathering and preservation. The cause of the failures may 
be ascribed to defective vitality or absolute abortion of individual 
seeds, as often as to unfavorable conditions of soil and temperature. 
It is also to be noticed that for the same species of plant there is a va- 
riety variation which applies as well to the vigor or quality of the seed 
as to change of form in the plant. It seems probable even that the 
vitality of the seed does not decrease proportionally with the distance 
- from the time of harvest, as between varieties of a species; and there 
is also some reason to believe that in some cases old seed has as strong 
a germinative power as fresh seed. 
As seed occupies such an important position in farming and garden- 
ing it seems desirable to investigate closely into its properties and pe- 
culiarities. For this purpose it has been customary to test the vitality 
of seeds by causing them to germinate and then compare the percent- 
age of germinations. It seems probable, however, from duplicate ob- 
servations made upon seeds, that the germative and vegetative proper- 
ties do not correspond, and that many seeds develop a sufficient vitality 
to allow of the formation of a radicle, and yet insufficient for the de- 
velopment of the seed-leaf, the process which initiates growth, as 
distinct from metastasis. In our tables and assistant horticulturist’s 
report will be found figures of the correspondences between germina- 
tion and vegetation of seeds from the same package as puychased of 
seedsmen, and from the produce of the same plants as grown at the 
station. ; 
Among the many curious obsei;vations whic. var table of results 
[Assem, Doc. No. 33.] 8 
