In other cases planting is
delayed until the arrival of the first fall rain. This is an certain
and usually unsatisfactory practice, since it often happens that the
sowing is delayed until too late in the fall for the best results.
In districts of dry late summer and fall, the greatest danger in
depending upon the fall rains for germination lies in the fact that
the precipitation is often so small that it initiates germination
without being sufficient to complete it. This means that when the
seed is well started in germination, the moisture gives out. When
another slight rain comes a little later, germination is again
started and possibly again stopped. In some seasons this may occur
several times, to the permanent injury of the crop. Dry-farmers try
to provide against this danger by using an unusually large amount of
seed, assuming that a certain amount will fail to come up because of
the repeated partial germinations. A number of investigators have
demonstrated that a seed may start to germinate, then be dried, and
again be started to germinate several times in succession without
wholly destroying the vitality of the seed.
Pages:
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214