282 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



3. Professor BeaP at Michigan Agricultural College. The 

 seeds were planted " in nice soil, which was very slightlj' 

 screened from the sun." 



The tables now given indicate sufficiently that there are 

 wide differences between the seeds in market. The attempts 

 now beinsc made abroad to estimate the value of seeds are 

 meeting with considerable favor at the hands of seedsmen. 

 The chief points of seed-testing by which values are deter- 

 mined have now been briefly stated. The methods have 

 been criticised as laboratory methods ; but are such careful 

 investigations less favorable to the seeds than are the 

 chances which they stand at the hands of any cultivator? 

 Are not the risks greater in the latter than in the former 

 case ? The whole question of seed-testing is one which is now 

 fairly before the cultivators and seedsmen in some parts of 

 Europe ; and it is one which will, before long, become promi- 

 nent here. It is one which is full of difficulties, and will lead, 

 perhaps, to more or less ill feeling during its early trials. 



It may be known to many persons present that in England 

 there have been concerted and successful endeavors on the 

 part of the large seed-houses to protect themselves and the 

 public against fraud in seeds. To show how grave was 

 the evil of wliich the dealers complained, reference need only 

 be made to one or two cases as they have been given in Eng 

 lish journals. It is not believed in any quarter that such 

 serious evils exist in the seed-trade in this country. 



1. Reported in G-ardener' s Chronicle., 1877, Dec. 22. 



* * * on cross-examination. 



In the sample submitted for analysis there were dyed thistle, Tim 

 othy, and rib-grass seeds. 



1 Rural New-Yorker, Feb. 2, 1878, p. 72. 



