Testing Farm Seeds. 



385 



the outer chaff removed, the seeds present a finely roughened, or stip- 

 pled, surface which has a slight luster. German millet seeds usually are 

 broadly oval, robust ; they roll readily and are commonly orange colored. 

 Common millet seeds are oval, but relatively longer in proportion to their 

 width than seeds of German millet ; yellowish or greenish in color. Hun- 

 garian millet seed consists of a mixture of yellow or golden colored seeds 

 and of dark-purple seeds. The darker seeds are often mottled. Seeds of 

 the foxtail millets, particularly those of common millet, are distinguish- 

 able from the similar seeds of the weed, green foxtail (fig. 19, d), by 

 their slightly larger size and more polished surface. 



0t) ^--^^ 



Fig. 31. — Seeds repre.senting the three groups of minet.s : a. Broom-corn minet ; b, 

 foxtail millets, including the German, common, and Hungarian varietie.s ; <•, 

 barnyard and Japanese millets. (Enlarged and natural size.) 



Seed of barnyard millet, including that of Japanese millet (fig. 31, 

 c), is chiefly inclosed in the light-brown or dark-brown, hairy, sharp- 

 pointed outer chaff. With this chaff removed, the seed is oval, whitish or 

 gray, smooth and polished, plano-convex, the convex face strongly arched 

 (fig. 31, c). 



The purity of all the millets should reach 90 per cent, th^^ viability 

 95 per cent or higher in three to five days. 



Much of the seed of all the millets used in this country, excepting 

 possibly the common barnyard millet, is imported, and many kinds of in- 

 jurious weeds are thus introduced. This is particularly true of the 

 broom-corn and foxtail millets. About the same kinds of weed seeds are 

 carried by each. 



The noxious weed seeds found in broom-corn millet include: (Fig. i/) 

 dock (f), black bindweed (g), corn cockle (i), night-flowering catchfly (1), 



r), English charlock (t) ; (fig. 

 ), tumbling mustard (c), field 



cow cockle (m), pennycress (n), ball mustard (] 

 i8) Indian mustard (a), hare's-ear mustard (b) 

 bindweed (e), corn gromwell (k), rat-tail plantain (1), buckhorn fm), wild sun- 

 flower (p), Canada thistle (r), wild chicory (t). 



Other weed seeds commonly, found in broom-corn millet include: (Fig. 

 19) crab-grass (a), yellow foxtail (c), green foxtail (d), soft chess (f), sorrel 

 (h), knotweed (i), pale knotweed (j), lady's-thumb (k), lamb's-quarters (1), 

 rough amaranth (n), spreading amaranth (o), wild spurry (p); (fig. 20) creep- 

 ing buttercup (a), red pimpernel (o), sticktight (p), vervain (r>; (fig. 21) healall 

 (b), cleavers (h), dog fennel (m), field camomile (n). 



A— 25 



