44»; 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



SEED INSPECTION IN NEVADA COUNTY. 



By D. V. Norton, County Horticultural Commissioner, Grass Valley, Cal. 



Of the many duties of the county horticultural commissioner, in my opinion the 

 inspection of field seeds ranks next in importance to that of nursery stock. Under 

 the old horticultural law in effect prior to 1917 the inspection of seeds was not made 



a part of the work of the horticultural commissioner. 

 A few counties of the state, however, provided for 

 seed inspection by ordinance. The supervisors of 

 Nevada County, recognizing the importance of clean 

 seed for the farmers, passed an ordinance making 

 it the duty of the horticultural commissioner to 

 inspect all hay, grain, potatoes and seed coming into 

 the county. Before the passage of that ordinance, 

 alfalfa was being imported, many carloads of which 

 would contain 25 per cent Russian thistle. These 

 were promptly rejected and sent out of the county 

 and within two months we were getting clean hay. 

 The same holds true with potatoes and field seeds. 

 Shipment after shipment was ordered out of the 

 county until shippers learned that Nevada County 

 was not a dumping ground for junk. 



When condemning seed as a matter of protec- 

 tion it is always best to send a sample to the 

 Agricultural College, Berkeley, a second to some 

 other place where it can be tested, and a third should 

 be kept until all danger of a law suit is over. This 

 method of procedure has saved me many times, for I have been threatened with 

 three damage suits at once, none of which materialized. Horticultural commis- 

 sioners who have not made a practice of inspecting seeds will be surprised at the 

 amount of adulteration, especially in the grass seeds, of which red top, rye grass, 

 blue grass and lawn grass are the worst. White clover is generally mixed with 

 sorrel and black seeded plantain. Alsike clover usually contains from ten to fifteen 

 varieties of weed seeds, sorrel predominating. Bed clover is almost invariably mixed 

 with black seeded plantain. Sweet clover generally passes inspection; the adulter- 

 terants to be looked for are lambs quarter, green foxtail and Amaranth us sp. 

 Sometimes we will find dodder or Russian thistle and in this case we reject shipment. 

 It may be interesting to read some of the reports received from the Bureau of 

 riant Industry on samples of seed that have been condemned in this county. Here 

 is a report on a sample each of alsike clover, white clover, vetch and red top: 



ANike clover 



Weed seed 



Sorrel 12,375 



May weed 0,000 



Buckthorn 2.475 



Velvet grass 2,475 



Wild clover 075 



Curled dock 450 



Allocarya sp. 450 



Low hop clover 225 



Epilouium sp. 225 



Rat tail fescue 225 



Starwort 



Aliissum sp. - 



Viola sp. 



Heal-all 



Yellow trefoil 



Chickweed 



Small flowered crane bill 



French weed 



Red pimpernel 



Crucifene 



( Corncockle 



No. -seeds per pound, 

 white clover V 



Per cent 

 I>ep top* 



10,(150 



4,500 



0,075 

 1,125 

 075 

 450 

 450 

 225 

 225 

 225 

 225 

 225 



4.140 



