\ 



Harvesting afid Cleaning Seed 



443 



From this table we see how it is that farmers 

 are such careful cultivators of weeds, as, on 

 the supposition that all the weeds in a sample 

 might germinate, these of themselves would 

 be sufficient to occupy the soil, and the old 

 adage that " ill weeds grow apace " is often 

 too well exemplified, the weeds getting on 

 much better than the intended crop. And 

 as in "seeds" they themselves are left to 

 propagate, the following table, calculating 

 the reproductive powers of some of our 

 common weeds, will well enough illustrate 

 another proverb, alas ! equally true, namely 



" One year's seeding 

 Seven years' weeding." 



Seed samples. 





Remarks. 



Black mustard .. 



Charlock 



Shepherd's purse 



Fool's parsley 



Dens de lion 



Stinking chamomili. . 

 Mayweed 



Sow thistle 



Groundsell 



Corncockle 



Common dock 



Red poppy 



8000' 

 4000' 

 450o| 

 6000 

 2040 



40650 

 45000 



19000 

 6500 

 2940 



13000 



50000 



- Common about farms. 



\ An agrarian weed. 



Everywhere too frequent. 

 \\ About manure heaps, 



K from whence it gets to 

 jj turnip fields. 



1 An agrarian, mostly with 



J garden culture. 

 In vetches, com, &c. 

 ! ) In fields, meadows, and 

 I ) by road sides. 

 On sandy soils. 



CLOVERS. 



The facts just insisted upon apply with still 

 greater force to seeds of our agricultural 

 Papihonacese, as these are so much smaller. 

 The table I now append, is the result of a 

 careful examination of several packets of 

 clover seeds from different seedsmen : — 



Seed Samples. 



Alsyke clover 



<Cow-grass clover. < 



Broad clover <j 



White Dutch clo- j 

 vcr j 



7600 



64c o 



12000 



1040 



7840 



8400 



39440 



26560 



70400 



Remarks. 



Grasses, Umbelhferae and 



Polygonacea. 

 Plantain and Umbelhferce. 



Umbelliferae, Polygo- 

 nacea, Creeping Crow- 

 foot, &c. 



Plantain and small weeds. 

 Sandworts, Ranunculus, 



Polygonacea. 

 Plantain, Polygonacea, 



and Caryphyllacea;. 



WEED SEEDS : THE ECONOMY OF PURCHAS- 

 ING PURE SEEDS. 



From this table we see the enormous fe- 

 cundity of our common weeds, so that allow- 

 ing weeds to seed in any crop furnishes work 

 to get rid of them for many succeeding years. 

 It remains now to account for the circum- 

 stance of such bad samples of seeds as those 

 mentioned in Table II. ever getting into the 

 market at all, and if we at present confine 

 our attention to grasses, it will be found as a 

 law that dirty patches usually yield a better 

 profit by being seeded, than clean ones ; and 

 also that seeding them is more profitable 

 than using them for fodder purposes. Weed 

 seeds weigh as much, if not more, than grass 

 seeds, and of the weed grasses the most 

 common one, the Bromus mollis (soft brome 

 or lop) is much larger and heavier than the 

 seed of the ryegrass, with which it is so 

 constant. In as far as yield of fodder is 

 concerned, when weeds are present, the 

 nutritive matter of the crop is diminished, 

 and the bulk of the whole lessened, but it is 

 almost a law that when the leafage is kept 

 under the seeding powers become greater, 

 and hence dirty patches of "seeds" pay 

 better for seeding than for any other purpose, 

 and such samples find a ready market on 

 account of their supposed cheapness; for the 

 growth of good and perfect samples entails 

 additional expense, which must be paid for. 

 If farmers sufficiently consulted their own 

 interest they would most carefitUy avoid the 

 cheap and dirty seeds of all kinds, for though 

 cheaper now they have ultimately to make 

 up for it, not only in the deficiency of crop, 

 but the everlasting after-expenses to get rid 

 of those weeds they themselves have planted. 

 The difficulty of getting grass seeds perfectly 

 fine must be admitted by all ; still, if farmers 

 make up their minds to get them so, and will 

 pay a little additional first cost, the matter is 

 simple enough, and even if they are not able 

 to analyze seeds with the requisite amount 

 of care, I should contend that the subject of 

 pure seeds is as important as that of pure 

 guano, and consequently that each agricul- 

 tural society should have an officer attached 

 whose duty should be that of analyzing see ds. 



