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BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 319 
experiments each with a thousand seeds of the kidney-vetch 
(Anthyllis vulneraria) 842 and 962 swelled in water in the course 
of three days, and 126 and 36, respectively, at intervals between 
the 5th and the 262nd day. In the first trial 10 of the seeds 
swelled on the 262nd day, and two on the 138th. It was note- 
worthy in these trials that the capacity of the seeds to imbibe 
water did not necessarily indicate that the seeds would germinate. 
In the first trial with the vetch-seeds, for example, 84% of the 
seeds were swollen on the 3rd day, while only &% of the seeds 
from which this sample was taken had been found capable of 
germinating. 
In a trial with Swedish clover (7. hybridum), of 35 seeds that 
remained hard after 10 days’ soaking, 7 swelled at intervals rang- 
ing from the 2nd to the 184th day thereafter. One seed rotted on 
the 173rd day, while the remaining 27 seeds were still hard and 
unswollen on the 292nd day. Analogous results were obtained 
also with seeds of lucerne, and with a variety of other seeds, nota- 
bly those of weeds. 
It is evident that facts like these go far to explain the opinion 
held by some farmers in New England that the use of pond-mud as 
a fertilizer is to be deprecated, ‘* because the mud tends to bring 
in sorrel and other weeds ”’; for if clover-seeds can thus resist the 
leaching and decomposing action of water, it is probable that there 
are other kinds of seeds equally resistant that may be preserved 
under circumstances similar to those just now indicated, and finally 
spring up to annoy the farmer in places where they would naturally 
be least expected. This view of the matter has quite recently 
been elucidated and supported most fully by a second research of 
Haenlein,* who tested the seeds of 31 different kinds of weeds and 
wild flowers. In these trials it was found that some kinds of weed- 
seeds were still capable of germinating, and did in fact germinate 
after they had been kept continually moist and warm in the air for 
more than three years ; while the seeds of other kinds wholly failed 
to germinate during this time, under conditions which were to all 
appearance favorable for germination. The most extraordinary 
differences were noticed as to the times of germination, not only as 
regards different kinds of seed, but in respect to different indivi- 
dual seeds taken from one and the same sample. Thus out of 
400 seeds of ordinary pig-weed or lambs-quarters (Chenopodium 
* ‘Tie landwirthschaftlichen Versuchs-Stationen,” 1880, 25. 465. Com- 
pare this Bulletin, p. 291. 
