64 [ ASSEMBLY 
In the case of the Dent corns, some were under-ripe and the germina- 
tion imperfect. ‘Trials upon under-ripe flints and dents showed that 
while under-ripe flint has very strong germinative power, under-ripe 
dents have a weakened vitality. 
An analogous illustration is to be found in the eyes of the potato — 
of four potatoes cut into single eyes, and the eyes planted in the order 
they occupied upon the tuber, the majority vegetated first from the 
eyes taken from the upper half of the potato. In a fifth potato the 
predominance of vegetation was in the lower eyes. Of one hundred 
and twenty-six potatoes. allowed to sprout in a warm and dark place, 
the sprouts started from the upper half in one hundred and twenty- 
one cases, and from just below the median line in five cases. 
We find a number of statements of other experimenters upon the 
subject. In Germany, Metzger states that the butt kernels of maize 
from a foreign and warm climate retained in Germany the character 
of the variety after the plants from the tip kernels had already begun 
to assume that character which, in the third generation, all the grains 
acquired. M. Chevreul declares that the butt kernels are better for 
seed than those at the top, but in this his experience seems counter to 
that claimed by the majority of observers. He says that in melon seeds 
the further they are from the peduncle the better they are. Authori- 
ties quoted by Darwin say that the last pea in the pod of a variety will 
revert to their origin quicker than the seed taken from the other parts 
of the pod; the seeds at the top of a spike of hemp produce more 
female plants m proportion to the male plants than do those lower 
down ; aster seeds taken from the florets of the circumference yield 
the greatest number of double flowers; in stocks the upper part of the 
pod yields seed that give eighty per cent of single flowers, and hence 
this part is rejected by the florist who seeks double flowers; the lower, 
inner part of the lamina of the leaves of certain varieties of Scolopend- 
rium ferns furnish spores which produce the normal parent form, while 
those spores produced on the outer abnormal part of the leaf repro- 
duced the special varieties. 
MUTILATED SEEDS. 
It is difficult to define just what amount of mutilation will destroy 
the germinative vitality of seeds. The following trials will, however, 
serve to illustrate: 
Peas, planted under surface: 
Fifty perfect peas vegetated ninety-two per cent. 
Fifty imperfect peas vegetated sixty-eight per cent. 
Fifty injured by pea weevil vegetated fifty-six per cent. 
Twenty-five shrivelled and diminutive vegetated sixty-four per cent. 
It seems probable, however, that a variety difference exists which 
will not allow generalization from unnamed results. 
Maize, planted under surface: 
_ 
Ten kernels Waushakum Flint corn, cut lengthwise to bisect the 
germ, one vegetated. 
Twenty kernels Waushakum Flint corn, more or less of the albu- 
men removed, twelve vegetated. 
Ten kernels Waushakum Flint corn, part of one edge removed, three 
vegetated. 
