Testing Farm Seeds. 36T 



Hawkweed seeds (fig. 21, t) are small, black, cylindrical, ridged lengthwise,, 

 pointed at one end, the opposite end bearing a short brush of fine, white 

 bristles; common in grass seed. The seeds of several kinds of hawkweed are 

 similar. One kind is the orange hawkweed, which has proved troublesome in 

 the Northeastern States. 



DETAILS OF MAKING SEED TESTS. 



Procedure. — Certain details of procedure in making seed tests 

 should be followed if tests of seeds of different kinds are to be fairly com- 

 parable. The natural course to be followed in testing forage-crop seeds 

 involves, in general, the preparation of the small sample for actual test^ 

 its examination, the separation of the crop seed and its impurities, a test 

 of the germinating power of the crop seed, and the determination of the 

 actual value of the seed as compared Avith pure seed. 



Careful work in making a test is comparatively useless if the sample 

 does not fairly represent the bulk of the seed from which it is taken. 



The responsibility for selecting the small trade sample rests entirely 

 with the dealer who submits it. When seed in bulk, as in a sack, is to be 

 sampled, small amounts of seed should be taken from the top, bottom,, 

 sides and center of the sack. If the sack be emptied and the seed thor- 

 oughly mixed, it is probable that a fairer sample can be taken. 



The Test Sample. — Since the small sample thus taken or the trade 

 sample will be too large to be tested in its entirety, it must be again sub- 

 divided to obtain the test sample. In official tests this all-important sub- 

 division is effected by the use of a mechanical mixer, which takes a little 

 from all parts of the larger quantity. In home testing perhaps there is 

 no better plan than to pour the seed in a symmetrical" pile on a flat sur- 

 face and carefully subdivide it by means of a table knife. A subdivision 

 amounting to a teaspoonful for the clovers and small-seeded grasses, a. 

 tablespoonful for the coarse grass seeds, and a considerably larger amount 

 for cereal grains may be accepted for the test. 



The balance previously described (p. 346) having been put in proper 

 condition for use, the total weight of the selected sample is to be taken 

 and recorded in terms of whole and fractional shots. This permits the 

 computation of percentages by ordinary division according to the meth- 

 ods used in percentage. If, however, quantities of seed balancing- 

 614 or 12^ shots are used, the one-sixteenth shot w^eight represents 1 per 

 cent or one-half of 1 per cent, as heretofore explained. 



The Pure Seed. — After the sample is weighed it is spread on a sheet 

 of white paper folded in the form of a tray (p. 350) and should first be 

 examined with reference to whether it is true to name. Attention should 

 then be directed to the possible presence of some particular adulterant 



