TESTING FARM SEEDS IN THE HOME AND IN THE RURAL 



SCHOOL. 



(By F. H. Hillman, Assistant Botanist, Seed Labor.atory, Bureau of Plant Industry, 



United States Department of Agriculture. Reprinted from Farmers' 



Bulletin 428, issued February 13, 1911.) 



INTRODUCTION. 



Progressive farmers who recognize the importance of better and 

 more profitable crop production are becoming convinced that the quality 

 of the seed used is worthy of careful attention. 



The results of seed tests made at the Department of Agriculture and 

 at the State Experiment Stations show that certain kinds of farm seeds 

 in which there is an active trade and a strong competition are often 

 seriously adulterated, the effect being that the farmer buying such seed 

 gains a disappointing experience instead of a satisfactory crop. Again, 

 the seed of certain farm crops is often mixed with seed of especially 

 noxious weeds, necessitating labor and expense in preventing permanent 

 injury to the farm. Seed may have a low germinating power, due to 

 age or to unfavorable conditions of development or of harvesting. Seed 

 of clovers and of alfalfa found on the market sometimes comes from for- 

 eign regions possessing a less rigorous climate than that under which the 

 seed would be grown in this country. For this reason such seed is unde- 

 sirable. These results of tests made in the laboratory are fully corrobor- 

 ated by the experiences of farmers engaged in growing crops. 



The popular agitation within recent years in the interest of better 

 seed has brought about some change in trade conditions, but much room 

 for improvement still remains. While a few states now have laws per- 

 taining to poor seed, there is no Federal law preventing the importation 

 of poor seed or its distribution by interstate traffic. In consequence of 

 this, protection in seed buying is very largely a matter of business acumen 

 on the part of the individual purchaser, which becomes very important 

 when tHe purchaser is also the consumer. 



In the matter of seed buying, the best protection to the purchaser is 

 believed to be self-protection based on the ability to judge the quality of 

 the seed offiered. This belief is supported by the fact that it is both pos- 

 sible and practicable for buyers or consumers of seeds to determine very 

 accurately their quality. 



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