278 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The climax of this kind of ingenious villainy appears to 

 have been reached in Hamburg, where there recently existed 

 a manufactor}^ of counterfeit clover seed, whicii was made 

 from quartz sand, and with such skill as to deceive experi- 

 enced judges, who have pronounced samples containing 25 

 per cent, of the quartz grains to be pure red clover seed. 



In a sample of Timothy seed which had the appearance of 

 being very pure. Dr. Nobbe found about 7 per cent, of 

 foreign seeds, in which he identified 31 difierent kinds, 

 mostly weeds and inferior grasses ; and he calculated that 

 upon a Saxon acre (= 1.37 Eng. acres) no less than 1,700,- 

 000 of foreign seeds would be sown, or 24 upon every square 

 foot, by using the customary quantity of this pure Timothy 

 seed. 



Dr. Nobbe examined, during the first four years since the 

 Tharand Experiment Station has given this matter attention, 

 some 1,700 samples of seed. He determines not only the 

 extent of adulteration Avith foreign seeds and mixtures, but 

 he also ascertains, by careful sprouting trials, what percent- 

 age of the genuine seed is alive and capable of producing 

 vigorous plants. 



Dr. Nobbe has, by very numerous and laborious experi- 

 ments upon seeds procured from various localities and 

 climates, determined what must be regarded as the average 

 per cent, of good seed that will sprout and grow, in a num- 

 ber of various kinds, when genuine. His experience shows 

 that unadulterated white clover seed of which 66 per ceilt. 

 Avill germinate, is of average quality; flaxseed of which but 

 one-half will sprout is poor ; while dill seed of which 10 per 

 cent, comes up, is excellent. 



Dr. Nobbe's experiments show further that very many 

 genuine commercial seeds are of inferior quality, yielding 

 much less than the proper average of plants, probably from 

 admixture with the fresh stock, of old seed whose vitality is 

 impaired or destroyed. 



The many complaints that are made of the poor quality of 

 the seeds sent out by the Agricultural Department at Wash- 



