The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-09-03
COMPARATIVE TERMINATING
POWER OF CERTAIN SEEDS
OF WHEAT

tBy Ernest Ainsworth, student in
Farm Crops, State College.)
The Importance of a subject like
this does not appear to be very great
when one looks at it from a casual
point of view. To a person who has
been in no way connected with farm
life, this topic would seem to be far
below others such as varieties of
wheat, or the subject of stacking
grain. One does not really see the inn
p%ortance of the terminating power Of
certain seeds until he actually per
forms the experiment. This is still
better shown when a large number of
experiments are made and an average
of these taken as a final result. The
best means of getting the results from
a large number of experiments is to
have a class which is interested in
seed grains do the work.
This year in the Farm Crops class at
State College, the test was made in
the following manner: In the class
studying seeds there were fifty-eight
students. Each student made a test
with certain sizes of wheat seed:
large plump seeds, small plump seeds,
or shrunken seeds being in each lot.
Everyone counted out 100 seeds of the
kind assigned to him and then secured
two small sheets of blotting paper and
an ordinary pie tin. One sheet of
blotting paper was placed in the bot
tom of the pan and the 100 seeds ar
ranged upon this sheet. The seeds
were placed with an air space between
each one and the student was careful
not to let the seed get too near the
edge. If the seeds were placed near
the edge of the pan it would tend to
dry them quicker than the seeds in
the center of the sheet. When the
grain was arranged correctly, the
other piece of blotting paper was
placed over the seed.
The paper was then moistened with
water, being careful not to leave
enough water in the bottom of the
pan to float the seed. The pan and it's
contents were now placed on a shelf
in a warm room and subjected to a
three-days termination test. The two
sheets of blotting paper served to
keep the moisture on the seeds in
nearly the same manner that the soil
does when grain is sown in the field.
At the end of the fifth day the
seeds were counted and we found a
number of them sprouted. Out of the
100 seeds placed in the test, we took
out those that were not sprouted and
substracted this number from one
hundred. The result gave US the per
cent OF grain that would sprout from
the kind of seed which we tested.
On the sixth day reports were hand
ed in and all results were averaged up.
1t was found that the plump large
seeds sprouted 1874 per cent out Of
the 100 seeds. This was considered
a good result as it is likely an eighty
eight test would cover a fair sized
crop. We next averaged the small
plump kernels and found them to test
S7.3 per cent, this being IL per cent
below the average Of the large plump
kernels. The shrunken seeds averag-
ed 81.3 per cent which is decidedly
lower than either of the other results.
One can readily see at once that
these tests indicate the difference in
yield a farmer would obtain If large
plump seed was planted, in place Of
shrunken or lightweight seed, and
these tests are accordingly valuable.
Receipt Books-Bound with stub