58 | ASSEMBLY 
justify is the apparent impossibility in all cases of obtaining duplicate 
results from seed selected as perfect from the same package. What 
these variations mean, and how they are to be interpreted we cannot 
yet say. One conclusion is, however, certain, 7. e., that as between 
two samples of seed of different origin the variations must be greater 
than that found to occur between duplicates before we can be justified 
in pronouncing in favor of the quality of the one sample over that of 
the other. . 
The seed selected for our “ commercial trials” were furnished 
through the liberality of seedsmen, of whom we may mention here 
Messrs. Hiram Sibley & Co., of Rochester, J. M. Thorburn & Co., of 
New York, and Joseph Harris, of Rochester. These seeds have a 
special value as being of various ages, and representing seed taken from 
a large stock whereby individual plant differences have become elim- 
inated. | 
STATION GROWN SEED. 
In 1882 our germinating seed tests were made by placing the seed 
between dampened sheets of blotting paper, in saucers, and by planting 
upon soil kept moderately moistened. These methods, however, seemed 
to us troublesome, and in some cases even unsatisfactory. In under- 
taking our germination tests for 1883, guided by our past experience, 
we endeavored to secure a means of germinating seeds which might, 
while equally as reliable, yet possess ease of manipulation. The,idea 
upon which our attempt was to be founded was the use of sand, kept 
moist through capillary attraction, as a seed bed, the keeping of the 
seed in a saturated atmosphere and yet exposed to the light and to ob- 
servation. 
For this purpose an apparatus was devised as follows: A twelve inch 
square earthern seed pan was filled with a fine sand, pressed in and the 
surface properly smoothened. This seed pan was then placed in a cop- 
per tray, one inch deep. Over the seed pan, and fitting within the, 
tray, a copper box with a glass cover was placed. ‘The seed, generally 
one hundred of asort, were carefully counted and placed in parallel rows 
upon the surface of the sand and left exposed to observation. Water 
being supplied to the tray, capillary attraction kept the sand in the seed 
pan evenly moistened, while evaporation kept the air within the appa- 
ratus and in contact with the seed thoroughly saturated. Hach day 
the rows of seed were carefully gone over, and such seeds as were found 
germinated, were counted as removed. 
The only seeming objection that we have found to this apparatus 
has been the formation of mold upon the seed, but this mold, while 
rarely excessive in most cases, could be kept in check by a little care 
exercised in airing, and in regulating the water supply. 
Among our first efforts was the obtaining of standards whereby the 
quality of seeds could be judged. It would not answer to use pur- 
chased seed, of whose freshness we could not be assured ; we therefore 
confined our trials in this line to Station seeds, whose condition in re- 
gard to ripeness and preservation were well known. ‘The seed in no 
case was selected individually from the packages, but represented the 
average of the harvest. The discrepant results between varieties was 
due, in many cases at least, to the seeding habit of the variety. Thus, 
‘ the cucumber seeds used varied between the varieties in the number of 
