2o8  Germination  of  Belladonna  Seed.  {^^^fg^J11' 
The  seed  in  Lot  C  was  readily  separated  from  the  pulp  and  skins 
by  crushing  the  dry  fruit  and  rubbing  the  seed  through  a  sieve.  It 
was  further  cleaned  by  fanning  and  further  sifting. 
Relative  Weight  of  the  Seed. 
The  opinion  has  been  expressed  that  seed  allowed  to  remain  on 
the  plant  until  the  fruit  has  dried  is  larger  than  that  removed  sooner. 
Whether  such  is  the  case  the  writer  is  not  prepared  to  say.  It  was 
shown,  however,  in  the  previous  investigation  that  size  of  the  seed 
has  no  apparent  influence  on  the  germination,  although  it  may  have 
some  effect  on  the  quality  of  the  plant  produced.  The  same  investi- 
gation established  the  fact,  however,  that  the  weight  of  the  seed  is 
an  important  factor  in  its  germination.  Since  it  is  a  difficult  matter 
to  determine  the  relative  size  of  several  portions  of  seed,  and  since 
as  a  general  rule  greater  size  is  indicative  of  greater  weight,  an  at- 
tempt was  made  to  determine  the  relative  weight  of  these  various 
lots  of  seed.  This  was  done  by  weighing  five  portions  of  100  seeds 
each  and  multiplying  the  average  by  10  to  determine  the  weight  of 
1,000  seed.    In  the  following  table  the  results  are  tabulated. 
Table  I. 
Table  Showing  the  Relative  Weight  of  Seed  from  the  Individual  Plants 
from  Each  Lot. 
Lot. 
Treatment. 
Num- 
ber of 
individ- 
ual 
plant. 
Weight  of  seed  (grams). 
Average 
weight 
of  1,000. 
Average 
weight 
of  1,000 
seed 
from 
whole 
lot. 
First 
IOO. 
Second 
100. 
Third 
100. 
Fourth 
100. 
Fifth 
100. 
Aver- 
age. 
A  .  . 
Picked  when 
I 
0.1028 
0.I0I9 
O.IO36 
0.1009 
O.IO36 
0.1025 
1.025 
berries  were 
2 
.1044 
.1026 
.1034 
•1037 
.1017 
.1031 
1. 03 1 
fresh  and 
3 
.1038 
.1076 
•1057 
.1029 
.1031 
.1046 
I.O46 
seed  washed 
4 
.1012 
.1027 
.1054 
.1013 
•0993 
.IOI9 
1. 019 
out  at  once 
1.030 
B  .  . 
Picked  when 
I 
.0971 
.0986 
.0940 
.0987 
•IO33 
.0983 
.983 
berries  were 
2 
.0920 
.0923 
.0897 
.0924 
.0921 
.0917 
.917 
fresh  and  al- 
3 
.0978 
.0993 
.1003 
•0953 
.0949 
•0975 
•975 
lowed  to 
4 
•0934 
.0971 
.0971 
.0952 
.0958 
.0947 
•947 
mould 
•952 
I 
•0943 
.0976 
.0994 
.0994 
•0973 
.0972 
•972 
C. . 
Picked  when 
2 
.0936 
.0933 
.0942 
.0922 
.0913 
.0929 
.929 
berries  were 
.0903 
.0876 
.0890 
•0935 
.0889 
.0898 
.898 
ripe 
\ 
.0878 
.0948 
.0923 
.0871 
•0933 
.0910 
.910 
.928 
