BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 161 



symptoms of decay in these species have been found and described, 

 which enable marking and scaling to be done much more closely 

 and accurately. Its costs as much to cut a defective tree, to buck a 

 defective trunk, or to take an unsound log from the woods to the 

 mill as it does to go through the same process with a sound and usa- 

 ble unit. Such expenses can now be avoided by close attention to the 

 external symptoms of decay. For example, before the recent in- 

 creases in cost of labor, it cost on the average $7.50 per thousand 

 board feet to get logs of incense cedar to mill. This etipense can now 

 be avoided in the case of defective logs. 



INVESTIGATIONS OF THE QUALITY OF SEED. 



FORAGE PLANTS. 



The importation of forage-plant seeds during the year varied from 

 that of 1916 principally as follows: Nearly four times as much 

 alsike, one-sixth as much red clover, and 50 per cent more rape and 

 orchard grass were imported. In 1917 about 300,000 pounds of 

 hairy-vetch seed was imported, as compared with 67,000 pounds in 

 1916 and 2,500,000 in 1914. This seed is of Eussian origin and 

 recent importations have been confined to those coming through the 

 port of Archangel. 



SEED LABELING. 



At the request of the Secretary of Agriculture representatives 

 of the seed trade met in Washington on May 10, 1917, to confer 

 with officers of the Department to consider a plan whereby the seed 

 trade would furnish essential information as to the quality of all field 

 seeds they sell. Definite suggestions were presented and accepted 

 by those present at the conference and later approved by the trade 

 associations at their annual conventions in June. This plan pro- 

 vides that all field crop seeds sold after July 1, 1917, in lots of 10 

 pounds or over shall be accompanied by the following information : 



(1) Name of seedsman. 



(2) Kind of seed, 



(3) Proportion of pure live seed present, with month and j'ear of germina- 

 tion test. 



(4) Country or locality of origin in the case of the following imported seeds: 

 Beans, soy beans, Turkestan alfalfa, and red clover from soutliern Europe and 

 Chile. 



All information either to be on labels securely attached or to be 

 stenciled directly on sacks or other containers. 



PRODUCTIVITY OF CORN. 



Each j^ear's work makes it more evident that other factors influ- 

 encing corn yields can not be satisfactorily studied without attention 

 to the quality of the seed. The productivity of seed corn is deter- 

 mined by its heredity, the conditions under which it was grown, and 

 the conditions under which it was kept during its dormant period pre- 

 vious to planting. A difference as great as 18 bushels per acre has 

 been found, due solely to conditions to which the seed was sub- 

 jected during its dormant period, which conditions did not injure 



33382°— AGE 1917 11 



