172 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Dr. 10. A. Besse^^, East Lansing, Mich.: ' 



Dear Sii- — I have Ihe lumor to snhniil Jo you (lie lepoil of Ihe worlc 

 done by the Seed Laboratory \'\uu\ July 1, 1!)L5 to June 3U, 1916, 



Yours very truly, 

 BERTH A A. HOLLISTEK, 



JCasI Lausiiij:, Micli.. .luuc ^0, lltlC. 



State Seed Analyst. 



KEPOET OF SEED ANALYSIS. 

 July 1, 1915 to June 30, 1916. 



Owing to the adverse weather conditions of last year, the crops in 

 many parts of the country were almost a total failure. The effect upon 

 the seed business was very marked. The seed crop was very short, 

 and most of the seed grown in this country was of very poor color, and 

 somewhat shrunken. A great deal of seed was imported from France. 

 This seed was bright and plump, but nearly all of it contained dodder. 

 It was nearly always possible to tell whether or not the seed had been 

 imported — as it usually contained weed seeds which are not found in 

 seed grown in this country. 



It was necessary to write to the dealers outside of the State about 

 the labels which they put on seed shipped into Michigan. The Milwau- 

 kee Seed Co., of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, placed upon their labels the fol- 

 lowing legend: "Over 99i/4% pure from weed seeds" — varying the per- 

 centage to suit the occasion. This was literally true in every case which 

 came to my notice, but an analysis of the seed showed it to be from one 

 to three per cent lower in actual purity. Dealers in the State were in- 

 formed that seed so labeled was in violation of the law. The dealers all 

 bought this seed in good faith, thinking that it was high grade seed. 

 They all paid a higher price for it than they should have paid for the 

 quality they obtained. I notified the company that they would have to 

 employ different methods when selling seed in Michigan. With one ex- 

 ception the dealers were glad to place the correct analysis upon their 

 seed. 



The four men who are collecting samples of fertilizer and feed for 

 Mr. Patten, the Experiment Station Chemist, were appointed deputy 

 seed inspectors, and acting in that capacity, reached a great many of 

 the dealers. 



The personnel of the Laboratory has undergone a change. Miss Mad- 

 ison, who was with me last year, left in February, to be married, and 

 her place was taken by Miss Louise Mertes, of Traverse City. 



The equipment of the Laboratory is essentially the same as last year, 

 with the addition of a set of pamphlet filing cases, for the bulletins, and 

 a binocular dissecting microscope. 



I made a trip to Columbus, Ohio, during the Christmas liolidays, to 

 attend the meeting of the Association of Official Seed Analysts of North 



