No. 6. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



24S 



I :ii n !'iii" " '~ " ' '; |i';ir:;'i 





The gerniiDatin<i apparatus used for this work is tlie standard seed 

 gerininotiti.1,^ (liainber used by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture and the American Experiment Stations, in which the 



conditions of mois- 

 '^ " ture and tempera- 



ture can be most 

 perfectly control- 

 led. The sub-stra- 

 tum or seed bed 

 was a blue blot- 

 ting paper which 

 was kept well 

 moistened during 

 the germination 

 tests; the temper- 

 ature w'as main- 

 tained almost uni- 

 formly at 70 de- 

 grees, F, 



Kecords were 

 made of the germi- 

 nations every day 

 except Sabbath 

 days and every 

 sample was per- 

 mitted to remain 

 in the germinator 

 fourteen days. 



The Kentucky 

 blue grass seed 

 was germinated in 

 seed pans of sand in the greenhouse, giving the seed the lightest pos- 

 sible covering of sand that w'as previously washed and passed 

 through a sieve of small mesh. The duration of these tests w'as 30 

 days. All seeds that fell short of the standards were tested a 

 second time and the larger results only are reported. 



At the head of the tables in this report are given the standard per- 

 centages of purity and germination fixed by the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture after many thousand tests had been made. 

 Several reputable seed houses have been willing to guarantee such 

 percentages in the seeds they sell, and it may be seen from the re- 

 sults given in the following tables that they are not too exacting of 

 the seedsmen and not more expensive for the farmer. 



The net value or agricultural value of *a sample to a farmer is 

 indicated in the tables in the column headed the "per cent, of pure, 



STANDARD GERMINATOR. 

 By courtesy of U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



