BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 193 



-each containing- live packets of different kinds of seed. There were 

 also distributed 14,880 packages of lawn-grass seed and 11,444 pack- 

 ages of imported narcissus and tulip bulbs. These seeds were pur- 

 chased on competitive bids, as heretofore. Each lot purchased was 

 thoroughly tested for purit}' and viability before acceptance by the 

 department, and tests of each lot of seed were conducted on the 

 department's trial grounds to determine trueness to type. 



The work of pacTveting, assembling, and mailing the vegetable and 

 flower seed was done by a private contractor at the rate of $2.3535 a 

 thousand packets, including the furnishing of the packets and 

 envelopes. 



NEW AND RARE FIELD-SEED DISTRIBUTION. 



A distribution of new and rare field seeds was made throughout 

 the entire United States, having for its object the dissemination of 

 seed of new and rare field crops, seed of improved strains of staple 

 crops, and high-grade seed of crops new to sections where the data 

 of the department indicate such crops to be of considerable promise. 

 Each package contained sufficient seed for a satisfactory field trial, 

 and the recipient was urged to use the seed, if feasible, for the pro- 

 duction of stocks for future plantings. A report card and a circular 

 giving full directions for the culture of the crop accompanied each 

 package of s.eed. 



Only seed of new crops or improved strains of standard crops 

 were distributed. These included varieties of alfalfa, field beans, 

 sweet clover, cowpeas, velvet beans, field peas, pasture and hay 

 grasses for the South, millets, sorghums, and cotton. The outstand- 

 ing results of the past year's distribution were accomplished through 

 the distribution of new varieties of soy beans. The soy-bean oil 

 industry, which is now being developed in the Corn Belt, has been 

 materially assisted by the wide dissemination of improved varieties 

 of soy beans through the agency of the department "s new and rare 

 seed distribution. The Victor cowpea, an improved variety devel- 

 oped by the department, is continuing to prove exceptionally prom- 

 ising, and it is believed that it will be very generally used in many 

 parts of the South where cowpeas are largely grown. 



During the year 101,000 packages of new and rare forage-crop 

 seed and 96,000 packages of cotton seed, or a total of 197,000 pack- 

 ages, were distributed. 



SEED TESTING. * 



During the fiscal vear 1922 the seed-testing laboratories of the 

 bureau received and examined 29,671 samples of seeds. Of these, 

 17,100 came to the laboratory at Washington, D. C., and 12,571 to 

 the five branch seed-testing laboratories maintained in cooperation 

 with the State institutions. These samples represent both vege- 

 table and field* seeds from farmers, seed dealers, and investigators, 

 to whom reports of analyses were sent, showing the pre^sence of weed 

 seeds and worthless material, or the germination, or both, as requested. 

 Through this service the work of the seed-testing laboratories is 

 immediately applied to practical agriculture. A total of 5,962 sam- 

 ples of vegetaole seeds was purchased and tested for germination. 



