No. 6. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



251 



WHITE CLOVER. 



Character and Cost of the Seeds on the Market. Standard of Purity, 

 95 Per cent. Standard of Germination, 75-80 Per cent. 



ALFALFA. 



Character and Cost of the Seeds on the Market. Standard of Purity,' 

 98 Per cent. Standard of Germination, 85-90 per cent. 



Number of Sample. 



96, 

 208, 



3 



a 



99.0 

 99. S 



b. C 



5S.5 

 79.3 



58.5 

 79.3 



.57.9 

 79.1 



$5 00 

 7 20 



2,SS0 

 224 



— OJ 



1) 3 



3 O' 



a„ 



.u 111 



$8 64 

 9 10 



CRIMSON CLOVER. 



Out of thirteen samples of Crimson Clover, not one contained suf- 

 ficient impurities to drop it below the standard of purity. The seed 

 is larger than any other clover, and being round and smooth can 

 easily be separated from foreign seeds and inert materials. It will 

 be observed from the table below, however, that the farmers must 

 be very suspicious of the viability of Crimson Clover seed, especially 

 is this true if the seed has a dark appearance. Sample No. 6 con- 

 tained a large number of dark seeds and the per cent, of germination 

 was only 72.2. Sample No. 12 was reported as seed of the crop of 

 1898 and was very dark throughout, having perhaps 15 per cent, of 

 light colored seed. The per cent, of germination of this sample 

 was only 27.5. The selling price was not reported, but assuming 

 that 15.00 per bushel is charged, the cost of pure viable seed would 

 be 117.52. A practically worthless case is sample No. 25, in which 

 nearly every seed was dark, and weed seeds were not uncommon. 

 It was reported as of the crop of 1899, which must have been a 

 mistake. In purchasing this seed at $5.00 per bushel, the farmer 

 17 



