No. 7. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



207 



Alfalfa has been so highly recommended, and the difficulties of se- 

 curing a stand so strong^ emphasized that most farmers have come 

 to think that a stand of alfalfa can be secured only after one or 

 more failures. If every farmer could know what percentage of the 

 seed sown is pure alfalfa, and what percentage of the pure seed is 

 capable of germinating and producing vigorous plants, then the 

 many reported failures would be viewed in an entirelv different 

 light. 



For a number of years the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture and many of the State Agricultural Experiment Stations have 

 been endeavoring to point out to the farmers of the United States 

 what enormous quantities of low grade clover and alfalfa seed are 

 sold in the market. These efforts have resulted in a marked de- 

 gree of success, but considering that the quality of red clover and 

 alfalfa seed is poorer to-day than it has ever been before only shows 

 that the American farmers have not made the most of their oppor- 

 tunities in securing a good grade of seed. In order to bring this 

 clearly before you I beg to make use of some charts which show the 

 result of the analyses of a few samples of commercial seed. The 

 first that is to be considered treats of red clover. 



Chart I. — Analyses of representative samples of commercial red 

 clover seed which were obtained in the open market. 



•This may Include aisike clover, white clover, timothy or some of the other valuable forago 

 plants, which aro not Included with the weeds. 



Broken Se<d^ Dirt^ Etc. — In all commercial seed there is more or 

 less broken seed, stems, dirt, chaff, etc. However in a well-cleaned 

 lot of seed the amount of inert matter of this character need not 

 be large, at least not more than two per cent. The seven lots of 

 seed here represented show from 1.2 per cent, to 11.5 per cent, of 

 inert matter. Samples 6 and 7 contain a high percentage of broken 

 seed and dirt, representing a direct loss of 10 or 12 per cent., which 

 will likewise result in a reduction of the amount of seed sown per 

 acre. 



In addition to the presence of broken seed, parts of stems, etc., 

 crushed quartz is not uncommonly found in commercial seeds. These 

 small particles of rock are screened so as to be approximately of the 

 same size and in some instances are stained to be of the same color 

 as the seed with which they are to be mixed. A few years ago there 

 existed in both Europe and America, firms whose business it was 

 to supply unscrupulous dealers with such crushed quartz sand at a 

 cost ranging from |1 to |3 per one hundred pounds. This was ther 

 mixed with red clover and ultimately sold as such to ow farmers. 



