192 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



INVESTIGATIONS BY PROF. L. H. PAMMEL, BOTANIST, IOWA 

 EXPERIMENT STATION, AMES, lA. 



rilE SALE OF AGRICULTURAL SEEDS SHOULD BE REGULATED BY THE ENACTMENT 



OF A LAW. 



We present to you herewith a statement concerning our investiga- 

 tions concerning the quality of clover, timothy and other seeds sold upon 

 the Iowa market. The facts determined by us are sufficiently important to 

 merit the consideration of the coming session of the Legislature. We 

 present these facts on the invitation of a committee of the Board of 

 Agriculture, consisting of Governor Packard, Professor Curtiss, and the 

 State Dairy Commissioner, Mr. Wright. Our forage crops are so impor- 

 tant in the agriculture of Iowa that this question of pure seed merits 

 serious consideration. 



AREA DEVOTED TO TIJIOTHY AND CLOVER IN IOWA. 



In the census of Iowa for the year 1905 we find that the area devoted 

 to the growing of clover was 237,309 acres, and to timothy 3,642,424 acres. 

 In addition to this, large, areas are devoated to the growing of blue-grass 

 and some minor leguminous crops, such as white clover, alsike and alfalfa. 

 A law regulating the sale of agricultural seeds, in regard to their purity, 

 prohibiting adulteration and misbranding, is imperative. Such laws are in 

 force in Canada, Kentucky, Maine and Florida. 



THE INTRODUCTION OF BAD WEEDS WITH AGRICULTURAL SEEDS. 



Since the areas devoted to the growing of red clover and timothy are 

 frequently renewed, large amounts of seed are annually required for seed- 

 ing purposes. The farmer pays a large amount of money for this seed, 

 often paying high prices for poor seed. In this seeding there is always a 

 chance that some bad weed may be introduced. In this way new weeds 

 are constantly brought into the State. Recently there was brought into 

 the State with alfalfa, a weed native to Europe and common in the West, 

 known as the knapweed, a very objectionable, spiny weed. In addition to 

 this, burr clover, or alfilaria, a troublesome weed in the West and Europe, 

 has been widely disseminated by means of alfalfa. Throughout the State 

 ribplantain, plantain or buckhorn has been scattered by means of clover 

 seed from the East and from Europe. The Canada thistle has been intro- 

 duced in a similar way. The clover dodder and common field dodder are 

 reported as menacing the clover crop in different parts of the State. 

 Quack grass, which promises to be one of the most troublesome weeds in 

 northern Iowa, has been introduced with grass seed. 



