244 ~ EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



LOSSES FROM SOWING INJURED SEED GRAIN. 



Complaints are being received from all parts of the province regarding the 

 lack of germinating power in the grain sown last spring, some farmers losing their 

 whole crop from this cause. 



The grain of this province if properly stacked and garnered will always show a 

 high germinating power; and the losses this year can generally be traced to the 

 use of damp wheat for seed, the grain garnered in a damp condition may be ap- 

 parently sound, but experience has pi'oved that grain ever so slightly heated, is 

 unsafe to sow and should be tested before sowing, and if this cannot be done, it 

 should be discarded, and only perfectly sound seed used. 



Where doubts exist regarding the germination of seed grain, a sample should 

 be forwarded by mail to the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, where it will be 

 tested and the returns sent back, free of charge. 



All seed grain intended for distribution from this farm is tested for germin- 

 ating power before being sent out. 



The following tables give the number of samples tested, and the average ger- 

 minating power of each kind of grain grown on the Experimental Farm in 1892. 

 These were tested at the Central Experimental Farm. 



Wheat, 49 samples tested: average germinating power, 91 percent; strong 

 plants, 84 per cent ; weak plants, 7 per cent. 



Oats, 41 samples tested: average germinating power, 97 per cent; strong 

 plants, 86 per cent; weak plants, 11 per cent. 



Barley, 34 samples tested: average germinating power, 90 per cent; strong 

 plunts, 75 per cent; weak plants, 15 per cent. 



Couch Grass Extermination. 



Numerous letters of inquiry are received each year regarding the best plan for 

 destroying Couch or Quack Grass. 



The above terms are applied indiscriminately here to two quite distinct grasses, 

 both of them d liferent from the couch grass of the east, Agropyrum repens. One 

 variety, Agropyrum glaucum or Colorado Blue Stem, Fig. 2, has a bright bluish-green 

 narrow blade, and ripens its seed in July, the other Hierochlou borealis, Holy Grass 

 or Sweet Grass, Fig. 3, has a wide, light green blade, and ripens its seed in May; 

 the last mentioned is the more common, and is fast getting possession of some farms, 

 and corapletly chokes out any giain that may be sown with it. Both varieties are 

 readily propagated from both seed and root stocks. 



