DYEING AND KILLING SEEDS. 283 



Magistrate. How is the dyeing done? 



Witness. They are soaked in a solution of indigo. 



Mag. And how is the killing done ? 



Wit. I believe the seeds are usually killed by heat. 



Mag. And the object of that is to prevent it growing, and when the 

 harvest comes, to prevent it being known, so that the farmer may think 

 his ground has failed, or that an insect has destroyed it? 



Wit. Yes. 



2. Reported in G-ardener s Chronicle., Dec. i, 1877. 



In the course of the first prosecution, under the Seeds Adulteration 

 Act, it comes out, that, during the trade, the purchaser of "killed char- 

 lock " said, " Why, tliere is nothing to fall back upon, if the seed should 

 happen to grow." 



The defendant said, " None of it will grow ; and, if you find a single 

 seed grow, I will put the whole lot on the kiln again for nothing." He 

 further said, — 



"When he killed seed he did not do it as * * * did it. I do it myself, 

 and always carefully scrape the inside of the bags before refilling, so 

 that not a single live seed remains." 



Further. '-It will do very well if sifted, — the larger seed for mixing 

 with Swede, and the smaller with turnip." 



The killed seed was said to be known in the trade by three noughts. 

 It was said by * * * that people did not like to speak of killed or pre- 

 pared seed. 



In reply to the lord-mayor, who asked the meaning of the trade term 

 or sign, * * * said, Nothing ! nothing ! ! nothing ! ! ! 



Ill these two prosecutions, — one for dyeing seeds and add- 

 ing the colored seeds as a fraudulent admixture ; in the other 

 for killing seeds, that they might be mixed with impunity 

 with good seeds, — the better class of seedsmen appear to 

 have given the prosecutors their hearty assistance. It is to 

 be believed that any honest and earnest endeavor to improve 

 the quality of seeds in this country, by accurately testing the 

 value of average samples, would meet not only the approval, 

 but receive the aid, of our seedsmen. The establishment of 

 even a single careful seed-testing station like that at New 

 Haven is to be welcomed by planter and seedsman alike. 

 The cost of maintaining such an establishment as a branch, 

 though an important one, of an experiment station, is not 

 very great ; but the results attained through its investigations 

 are extremely important. The aim of such an establishment 

 is to improve the quality of the seeds sold for planting, and 

 this is an object sought also by seedsmen. Instead of any 



