For hundreds if not thousands of years seeds have been amended with various materials to insure their survival or to improve their emergence and growth. The early Greeks and Egyptians used salts to insure seed storability and applied elemental dusts to protect the seed after it was planted. Although hot water treatments might not be considered a seed treatment they have the effect of eliminating harmful organisms while maintaining seed viability. With the discovery of the pesticidal properties of some of the heavy metals especially copper, mercury and zinc modem seed treatment as we know it today was introduced.