344 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



which will cause the seeds to either germinate and then de- 

 cay, or to decay before germinating. The amount of moist- 

 ure can be easily regulated, and by properly working over 

 any pile of compost containing a large amount of organic 

 matter, the required amount of heat may be obtained. 

 From tlie above experiments it would seem doubtful if the 

 practice of keeping swine upon manure piles, to cause slow 

 decomposition, is the best for manure containing weed seeds. 

 It is also doubtful if the seeds of weeds, often put into the 

 pens where pigs are kept, will be destroyed by the action of 

 the little heat there generated. It would probably be safer, 

 in both of the above cases, to compost the manure in large 

 piles before using it upon the land. 



3. At what sta2;e of bloominsj are the seeds of the white 

 daisy ( Leucanthemum vuTgare) matured enough to germinate ? 



Answer. This weed has become so abundant in the grass 

 land of some sections of the State that it must be cut with 

 the grass, and it becomes important to know if it can be cut 

 with the grass before the seeds mature. After a series of 

 careful examinations it has been decided that when the flower 

 first reaches its full expansion few or no seeds are mature 

 enough to germinate, but that it requires only a few days 

 for these seeds to mature to full ripeness. 



In view of these facts it would not seem safe for the 

 farmer to depend wholly upon the early stage of cutting, 

 but to afterwards compost all manures made from fodder 

 containing weed seeds of any kind. 



5. Vitality of Seeds as Affected by Age. 



The question of the vitality of seeds as affected by age, is 

 one of great importance to every cultivator of the soil, and 

 while our experiments are far from being complete, as far as 

 the number of varieties are concerned, yet we give the re- 

 sults, hoping at some future time to extend the tests to other 

 varieties of seeds and perhaps to those of greater age. 



The temperature, moisture and other conditions, during 

 these tests, were made very nearly that required for the best 

 growth of each kind, and duplicate tests were made, in all 

 cases, to insure accuracy. 



For each test ten seeds were taken, and the results are 

 given below : — 



