$66 



The Country Gentlcmaiis Magazine 



ance to that of a dear kind, is added to increase the 

 quantity without affecting the quaHty. In this kind of 

 adulteration the purchaser is only deceived in the quan- 

 tity. What comes up at all, comes true, and the cha- 

 racter of the dealer for supplying a true article is main- 

 tained. 



d. By manipulating and doctoring the seed so as to 

 make bad seed look like good, as by dying bad clover 

 seed, sulphur-smoking bad grass seed, oil-dressing bad 

 turnip seed, &c. 



6. Your committee have been unable to ascertain 

 to what extent these different practices are carried on ; 

 but they have reason to think it must be considerable. 

 One of their informants was able, from personal 

 knowledge, to instance one individual whose principal 

 business consisted in destroying the vitality of cheap 

 seeds for the purpose of mixing with sound seed of 

 greater value ; and they have reason to believe that 

 this is by no means a solitary case. They are told 

 also that a large number of people obtain a livelihood 

 by the manufacture of bad into apparently good clover 

 seed. 



7. Your committee next endeavoured to ascertain 

 how far the various causes, above-mentioned, actually 

 affect the productiveness of seeds sold in the market. 

 They have not, at present, made any tests with the 

 view of determining how far seeds sold as of special 

 quality or kind come true. Their experiments have, 

 in the first instance, been directed solely to the vitality 

 of seeds ; and to that alone the present report applies. 

 In a future report they may deal with the quality of 

 the kinds of seeds sold, as well as some other collateral 

 points. 



8. In entering on the inquiry as to the vitality, your 

 committee attempted to obtain a test for guessing at 

 the age of seed by the percentage which comes up ; 

 but this they found impossible, so much depending on 

 the original quality, and the care with which the seed 

 has been afterwards stored. They made, however, 

 some trials of turnip seed with this intent ; and it may 

 not be without interest to mention that, in them, they 

 found the percentage which came up from home-grown 

 good seed one year old to be 80, three years old 43, 

 seven years old 32, and the older the seed the lower 

 the rate of germination. 



9. It would have been beyond the means at the 

 disposal of your committee to test even a small sample 

 of the goods of all the seedsmen and nurserymen in 

 London ; but by going only to the wholesale dealers, 

 from whom the retail dealers of course chiefly 

 obtain their supplies, they thought they could arrive 

 at a fair estimate of the general character of the seeds 

 sold throughout the country. It appears from 

 Dr Hogg's "Horticultural Directory" that there 

 are twenty wholesale dealers in London. From each 

 of these (with the exception of two, who were acci- 

 dently omitted) the committee purchased samples of 

 five of our commonest garden vegetables (cauliflower, 

 broccoli, carrots, and white and yellow turnips) — care 

 being taken to prevent the purpose for which they 



were wanted being known. The samples were num- 

 bered, and the names of the dealers from whom they 

 were got were kept secret. One hundred seeds of 

 each package were tested by the Society's officers at 

 Chiswick, and a like sample separated by one of the 

 members of the committee, and the number of seeds 

 which came up were counted. In addition to this 

 test, in a number of instances, especially where, before 

 sowing, the appearance of the seeds was not good, they 

 were mechanically tested by crushing and microscopical 

 examination ; and that test was found to correspond 

 with the result of the trial by sowing. The test by 

 floating was also tried, but found of no value, in the 

 kinds of seeds specified. 



10. The results of sowing, as shewn by the average 

 of both trials (which, it is right to say, in general 

 corresponded veiy closely) were as follows : — 



Out of the eighteen packages of 100 cauliflower 

 seeds, the following numbers respectively came up — 

 viz., 86, 70, 66, 60, 56, 54, 54, 52, 51, 51, 50, 44, 44, 

 44, 43> 39, 36, 24. 



Out of the eighteen packages of 100 broccoli seeds, 

 the following numbers respectively came up — viz., 

 86, 83, 70, 68, 65, 62, 60, 59, 56, 55, 50, 46, 42, 42, 



39, 35- 



Out of the eighteen packages of 100 carrot seeds, 

 the following were the numbers which came up — viz., 



61, 56, 54, 48, 47, 45, 44, 43, 41, 38, 38, 37, 37, 35, 

 33, 30, 19, 14- 



Out of the eighteen packages of 1 00 white turnip 

 seeds, the following numbers respectively came up — 

 viz., 98, 95, 93, 87, 87, 83, 82, 71, 70, 68, 68, 66, 65, 

 64, 62, 60, 58, 57. 



Out of the eighteen packages of 100 yellow turnip 

 seeds, the following numbers respectively came up — 

 viz., 95, 84, 79, 79, 78, 77, 72, 72, 67, 66, 65, 64, 



62, 58, 55, 55, 44, 28. 



11. It should be added that the quality of different 

 kinds of seeds obtained from the same tradesman was 

 not always uniform, all good or all bad ; the cauli- 

 flower would sometimes be inferior and the turnip 

 superior, and so on ; but, on the whole, a good posi- 

 tion in one kind was generally accompanied by a good 

 position in all. It is also to be observed that the 

 general percentage is less on some seeds than on others 

 — a difference probably due to the greater care re- 

 quired in harvesting them, and, in the case of carrots, 

 to the difficulty in separating the good seed from the 

 bad. 



12. In seeking for a remedy for the evil, your com- 

 mittee recognized the existence of two distinct elements 

 in it, each requiring different treatment : — I. The 

 actual adulteration of seeds ; and, 2. The mere keep- 

 ing them too long and selling them when too old. 



13. Actual adulteration is entitled to no mercy. It 

 is a deliberate and intentional fraud, in the suppres- 

 sion of which the trade is as much interested as the 

 general public, and ought to be suppressed by the 

 strong hand of the law in the same way as any other 

 fraud. 



