242 



ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Off. Doc. 



The agents selected for this purpose were members of the State 

 Board of Agriculture and certain other agriculturists who have been 

 in close touch with the Department of Agriculture. There were 

 collected in this manner 243 samples of seeds from 12 counties of 

 the State, distributed as follows: 



County. 



Allegheny, 



Berks 



Bucks 



Cambria, 



Cumberland, 



Dauphin, 



Erie 



Fayette, 



Lackawanna, 

 Northampton 



Venango 



Warren 



COUectoi 



J. R. Orr 



H. G. McGowan, 



G. W. Row 



J. J. Thomas, .. 

 D. B. Blgga, .... 

 S. F. Barber, ... 



A. L. Wale3 , 



J. M. Hantz, 



H. W. Northup, . 

 Wm. F. Beck, .., 



W. J. Magee 



R. J. Weld 



Address. 



Pittsburg 



Geiger's Mills, 



CarroUtown, . 

 Shippensburg, 

 Harrisburg, .. 



Corry 



Merrittstown, 



Glenburn 



Nazareth 



Oil City 



Sugar Grove, 



Number 



of 

 Samples. 



36 

 50 

 17 

 14 



8 

 18 

 21 

 11 

 22 

 12 



6 

 25 



These samples represent 57 different merchants in 23 different 

 towns, and, so far as is known, the seeds were grown in one of the 

 following States: Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Maryland, Indiana, 

 Illinois, Michigan or California. 



It wall be seen in the tables that follow that with the seeds re- 

 quested came some samples of white clover, alfalfa and millets. 



THE METHOD OF CONDUCTING THE TESTS. 



The work of testing the samples of seeds was performed accord- 

 ing to the rules adopted by the Committee of the Association of 

 American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, January 

 23, 1897. Every sample was taken by the authorized agent of the 

 Department of Agriculture and sent in packages provided for the 

 purpose, directly to the Experiment Station. Each package bore the 

 name of the seed, its reputed age and selling price, also the name 

 of the merchant, and the name of the agent taking the sample. 



The weights of the samples were in every case greatly above the 

 minimum quantities stipulated in the above rules for making purity 

 tests. Foreign seeds were taken from the entire sample by spread- 

 ing the seeds over white paper, and picking out the weed seeds with 

 the use of forceps and a magnifying glass. 



For the germination tests 200 seeds of each sample w^ere taken in- 

 discriminately from the pure seed, and duplicate tests were made 

 simultaneously. In the case of the corn, but 100 seeds were used 

 in accordance with the aforesaid rules. 



