754 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



TESTING TIMOTHY SEED. 



Timothy seed is as a rule, very pure, and not subject to adulteration 

 other than by the use of old seed. Tests of this seed are easily made. 



After thorough mixing, a quantity of seed equaling the weight of Q^A 

 BB shots, at least, should be taken for the test sample. Timothy seed 

 is readily identified. It appears both in the chaff and as free grains. 

 Seed in the chaff should have a silvery-white appearance. Free grains 

 are slightly darker and dull. If they are brown a damaged condition is 

 suggested. The purity should be 99 per cent or higher; the viability 98 

 or 99 per cent. The germination test requires five or six days. In 

 addition to the weed seeds found in timothy some lots contain Kentucky 

 bluegrass seed and Canada bluegrass seed and alsike clover seed. 



The noxious weed seeds found in timothy include: Dock, bladder cam- 

 pion, night-flowering catchfly, small-fruited false flax, rat-tail plantain, 

 buckhorn, Canada thistle. European timothy seed is said to sometimes 

 contain clover dodder, probably due to its being grown with dodder-in- 

 fested clover. This dodder does not occur in American or Canadian tim- 

 othy seed. The most serious impurity is Canada thistle seed found in 

 Canadian-grown timothy. 



Other weed seeds occuring in timothy seed include: Witch-grass, yel- 

 low foxtail, green foxtail, sedge, sorrel, lady's-thumb, lamb's-quarters, 

 mouse-ear chickweed, peppergrass, shepherd's purse, cinquefoil, yellow tre- 

 foil, evening primrose, catmint, smaller broad-leaved plantain, dog fen- 

 nel, field camomile. 



TESTING KENTUCKY BLUEGRASS SEED. 



The Kentucky bluegrass seed in the American market is produced in 



this country, chiefly in Ken- 

 <llk tucky. Seed in bulk has a 

 I brownish-straw color. Individual 

 w seeds are canoe shaped, approxi- 

 P" mately three thirty-seconds of 

 an inch long, the back of the lem- 

 ma being sharply angled. A 

 slender ridge on each side of the 

 angle of the lemma is usually 

 evident. 



tf The chief points to be consid- 



■ /fc c ered in testing Kentucky blue- 



fig. 28. — Seeds of timothy; a. Grains in grass seed are the presence of 



the hull, or chaff; b. grains removed r ■. Shiver a <z* sppd a* an 



from the chaff; o, the same, natural Lauaaa Qiuegiass seed as an 



size - adulterant and the presence of 



an undue amount of chaff or of dead seed. 



Canada bluegrass seed has been employed in large quantities as an 

 adulterant of or a substitute for Kentucky bluegrass seed. Its seed is 

 very similar to the latter, but can be distinguished by means of a 

 magnifier. In general Canada bluegrass seed in bulk has a somewhat 

 lighter color. Its individual seeds are broader, more blunt and papery 



