184 Report of the Botanical Department of the 



thistle, broad-leaved plantain, lamb's quarters, lady's thumb, yel- 

 low foxtail, mustard and alsike clover, as well as quite a little 

 brown, shriveled clover seed, most of which would not germinate. 

 The sample graded poor in general appearance. 



RESULTS OF ALSIKE CLOVER SEED TESTS. 



The 86 alsike clover tests seem to indicate that there was more 

 impure alsike seed on the market during 1911 than in 1910. 

 Several samples contained a considerable amount of noxious weed 

 seed and 13 of the samples were adulterated. In general appear- 

 ance the alsike seed seemed to be, in most cases, bright and plump, 

 and only 14 per ct. was marked as falling below average. No 

 dodder was found in any of the samples. 



Adulterated samples. — Thirteen samples were adulterated, 

 four witli 6 or 7 per ct. of timothy and one with 35 per ct. of 

 the same seed, one with 15 per ct. of sorrel, one with 9 per ct. 

 of white clover, another with 6 per ct. of red clover, one with 6 

 per ct. of catchfly, and four with from 5 to 17 per ct. of yellow 

 trefoil. 



Table II. — Foreign Seeds Found Most Frequently in Alsike Clover 



Samples. 



Amount. Amount. 



Consid- Consid- 



Impurity. Traces, erable. Impurity. Traces, erable. 



Sorrel 49 1 Green foxtail 22 



Timothy .54 9 Lamb's quarters 17 



Trefoil 46 14 Broad plantain 12 



Dock 38 ... Pig- weed 3 



Catchfly 33 4 Wild carrot 2 



Canada thistle 29 ... Lady's thumb 1 



English plantain 27 ... Ox-eye daisy 1 



In general appearance two samples were poor, 11 poor to 

 average, 13 average, 7 average to excellent and 53 excellent. 



Weight of samples. — Low weight of samples again hindered, 

 as 22 samples weighed less than half an ounce, 14 one-half ounce, 

 4 three-fourths ounce, 10 one ounce, 13 one and one-half ounces 

 and 22 two ounces or more. 



