210 ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



and germinated only 27 per cent., having thus an actual value of 

 6.3 per cent. 



Cou of Seed. — The cost of the seed is, or should be, only of sec- 

 ondary importance. The first consideration should be the quality 

 of the seed itself. Presumably the cost of the seed is regulated 

 according to the quality, but this is not necessarily true. If the 

 dealer is known to be thoroughly reliable, a fairly safe rule to fol- 

 low is to buy what he calls his best grade. This is, however, not al- 

 ways a safe guide. 



In the charts given herewith is shown the price paid per bushel 

 for the different lots of seed and likewise the actual cost per bushel 

 of the pure seed which will grow. It is the latter factor which de- 

 termines the value of the dilferent grades of seed. This, however, 

 does not take into consideration the number and kinds of weed 

 seeds present, which should always be reckoned with. Samples 

 Numbers 3 and 4 were each sold at |8 per bushel. The percentage 

 of pure seed was slightly higher iu Number 4 than in Number 3, 

 but the germination of the former was approximately 10 per cent, 

 lower than the latter, making the actual cost of Number 3 |9.45 per 

 bushel and of Number 4 $10.58 per bushel. Moreover, sample Num- 

 ber 3 contained less weed seeds, both in number of kinds and number 

 of seeds and is therefore much the best grade to buy. The same is 

 practically true of Numbers 5 and 6 — seed sold at 17.50 per bushel. 

 It will be observed that the actual cost of Number 5 is less than 

 any shown in Chart I, but owing to the large number of weed seeds 

 such seed should not be purchased. 



ADULTERATED SEED. 



The adulteration of seed is not uncommon iu the trade, and it is 

 quite necessary that the farmers should learn to what extent this 

 adulteration is being carried on. Of recent years unscrupulous 

 dealers have placed large quantities of seed on the market which 

 has been mixed with other seeds very similar in appearance but 

 much less valuable. Bed clover and alfalfa, particularly alfalfa, 

 lend themselves very readily to the adulteration with yellow tre 

 foil or black medick {Medicago lupulma") . This is grown in Europe 

 to a limited extent where it is used principally as a sheep pasture. 

 It is found growing as a feed in many sectioas of the United States. 

 Its use, however, as a forage plant, where alfalfa or clover can be 

 grown is not worthy of consideration. Large quantities of this seed 

 are imported into the United States at a cost of about five cents per 

 pound, and vvhen mixed with alfalfa command a price of from fifteen 

 to twenty cents per pound. In addition to the use of trefoil as an 

 adultepant for alfalfa, two species of bur clover [Medicago denti- 

 culata and Medicago arahlca), and occasionally sweet clover {Meli- 

 lotus spp.) are sometimes used illegitimately in this way. Alfalfa 

 is seldom adulterated more than 50 per cent., but a few cases have 

 come to our notice where the pure trefoil has been sold as high- 

 grade alfalfa. The extent to which this mixing is done is shown 

 in the tabulated results given in Chart II. 



