268 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



A study of Table IV sIiowt? that certain kinds of weed seeds are 

 distributed without much respect to the kind of seed in which they 

 are found while others are found more especially as contamination 

 of certain kinds. Thus the dodders were more abundant in alfalfa, 

 buckhorn and Knixers ])lantain in red clover, night-flowering catchfly 

 in alsike clover. Table \' shows Ihat there are certain very commonly 

 occurring weed seeds. These are lamb's quarters (Chcnopodiuni ol- 

 Jjum), green foxtail or i)igeon grass {Chaetochloa viridis), both very 

 common in red clover and alfalfa seed, Russian thistle {Snlsola 1:(ili 

 tcnuifolia) and spreading orache ( Atriplcx patiila) abundant in al- 

 falfa but almost lacking in the other kinds of seed, field sorrel {Runiex 

 acetoscUa) especially in timothy and alsike but also occurring in red 

 clover, pepper grass (Lcpidium virginicum and L. apetalum) in tim- 

 otliy, ragweed (Ambrosia artcmisiifolia) in red clover and alfalfa. 

 Red clover is a frequent contamination of alfalfa; timothy is very fre- 

 quently found in red clover, alfalfa and especially alsike, while alsike 

 is very frequently found in red clover and especially in timothy. The 

 contaminations of hairy (or winter) vetch owing partly to the 

 largej' size of the seed, were difl'erent from the foregoing. The con- 

 taminants are spring vetch {Vicia sativa) and a number of other 

 vetches and species of Lathyrus. These may be present in large quan- 

 tities, i. e. often 20 per cent. Nearly every sample has a small amount 

 of cockle {Agrostcnima githago) and cleavei-s {Galiion ap<irinc) while 

 oats, wheat and rye are frequent accidental contaminations. 



As would be expected, the seeds found as contaminations are usu- 

 ally those of api)roximately the same size as the seed in which they 

 are found. When it is otherwise, it is because the seed has not been 

 cleaned or lias been carelessly handled after cleaning or that screen- 

 ings have been used to cheapen it. There is far too much of this care- 

 lessly handled seed on the market. To illustrate the quality of some of 

 the lots of seed actually offered for sale in Michigan in 1911 and 1912, 

 there are given above (Table VI) the analyses of a number of the 

 most striking samples. These were mostly olitained of seed dealers in 

 small townis or of farmers who were offering the seed for sale. Some- 

 times in the case of the dealer, usually in the farmers' case, the poor 

 quality of the seed was not recognized owing to lack of knowledge in 

 this matter. Unfortunately, however, a number of the smaller cities 

 of the state are infested with unscrujiulous seed merchants who buy 

 screenings at low prices from some of the large seed firms and mix them 

 with better seed or sell them directly thus introducing low-grade seed 

 into their locality to the detriment of the honest dealers and the great 

 hann of the farmers. Perhaps the worst lots are the packages of lawn 

 grass seed put uj) by some of the New York state seed firms. They 

 are usually in pasteboard cartons with a picture of a vivid green lawn. 

 They are mostly just under a pound in weight so that they do not 

 violate the letter of the law. They are usually sold for five or ten cents 

 by five and ten cent stores and by dei)artment stores. The sale of such 

 trash is greatly to be deplored as it injures the legitimate business 

 of reliable firms. The price alone is enough to show the fraud for 

 with Kentuckv IJlue grass at twentv-five or thirtv cents a itound and 

 white clover at eighteen to twenty cents or over and other grass seeds 

 similarly high priced, it is absurd to suppose that a package of about 



