Testing Farm Seeds. 



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Fig. 4. — Mixture of seeds of alfalfa (a) and yel- 

 low trefoil (b). Alfalfa seeds are more or 

 less kidney-shaped or angular, while those of 

 trefoil are more uniformly oval and have the 

 small projection at the scar more commonly 

 evident. (Enlarged.) 



(See fig. 6.) Seed of red clover, alfalfa, and crimson clover from the 

 warmer parts of Europe is from a tenderer strain of plants than is de- 

 manded in most parts of ^^tp^t^-^ ,.^^^ 

 this country. Experi- 

 ments have shown that, 

 as a rule, such seed 

 can not compete in crop 

 production with domestic 

 seed. 



Considerable red clover 

 seed has been imported 

 from Chile within recent 

 years. This seed is the 

 best appearing clover seed 

 in our market, and authen- 

 tic reports show that it has 

 proved productive in vari- 

 ous localities extending 

 from Canada nearly to the 

 Gulf States. Nearly every lot of this seed that has come under our ob- 

 servation, however, has been badly infested with an unusually destructive 

 strain of field dodder seed (fig. 7). 



Alsike Clover. — Seed of alsike clover is produced in the Northern 



States, but much of 

 that in the market is 

 imported from Canada. 

 Very little is imported 

 from Europe. Canadi- 

 an seed, and doubtless 

 some of that produced 

 in the United States, 

 often contains much 

 Canada thistle seed — 

 more, indeed, than is 

 found in any other kind 

 of farm seed. Yellow 

 trefoil seed commonly 

 appears in alsike seed,, 

 sometimes to the extent 

 of severe adulteration. 



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Fig. 5. — Mixture of seeds of alfalfa (a) and sweet 

 clover (b). The elliptical form of the sweet clover 

 seeds, which have the scar notch near one end, 

 together with their uneven surfaces, serves to 

 distinguish them from the more nearly kidney- 

 shaped and smoother alfalfa seeds. (Enlarged.) LoW-grade WCedy anci 



shrivelel screenings are sometimes used as an adulterant. (See fig. 8.) 



