282 



JOUKNAL OF HORT1CULT0IIE AND COTTAGK GABDENER. 



[ October 15, 



large numbers of people obtain a liTelihood by the manufacture of bad 

 iDto apparently pood Clover seed. 



7. Your Committee nest endeavoured to ascertain bow far the 

 Tarions causes, above-mentioned, actually affect the productiveness of 

 seeds sold in the market. They have not at present made any tests 

 ■with the view of determining how far seeds sold as of Fpecial quality 

 or kind come true. Their experiments have, in the first instance, been 

 direct<;d solely to the vitality of seeds ; and to that alone the present 

 report applies. In a future report they may deal with the quality of 

 the kinds of seeds sold, as well as some other collateral points. 



8. In entering on the inquiry as to vitality, your Committee at- 

 tempted to obtain a test for guessing at the age of seed by the per- 

 centage which comes up ; but this they found impossible, so much 

 depending on the original quality, and the care with which the seed 

 Las been afterwards stored. They made, however, some trials of 

 Tnmip seed with this intent ; and it may not be without interest to 

 mention that, in them, they found the per-centage which came up from 

 home-grown good seed one year old to be 80, three years old 43, seven 

 years old 32, and the older "the seed the lower the rate of germination. 



9. It would have been beyond the means at the disposal of your 

 Committee to test even a small sample of the goods of all the seeds- 

 men and nurserymen in London ; but by going only to the wholesale 

 dealers, from whom the retail dealers of course chiefly obtain their 

 supplies, they thought they could arrive at a fair estimate of the 

 general character of the seeds sold throughout the country. It appears 

 from Dr. Hogg's " Horticultural Directory " that there are twenty 

 wholesale dealers in London. Prom each of these (with the exception 

 of two, who were accidentally omitted), tho Committee purchased 

 samples of five of our commonest garden vegetables (Cauliflower, 

 Broccoli, Carrots, and White and Yellow Turnips) — care being taken 

 to prevent the purpose for which they were wanted being known. The 

 samples were numbered, and the names of the dealers from whom 

 they were got were kept secret, 100 seeds of each package were tested 

 by the Society's officers at Chiswick, and a like sample separately by 

 one of the Members of the Committee, and the number of seeds which 

 came up were counted. In addition to this test, in a number of in- 

 stances, especially where, before sowing, the appearance of the seeds 

 •n-as not good, they were mechanically tested by crushing and micro- 

 scopical exajnination ; and that test was found to correspond with the 

 result of the trial by sowing. The test by floating was also tried, but, 

 found of no value, in the kinds of seeds spcciiied. 



10. The results of sowing, as shown by the average of both trials 

 (which, it is right to say, in general corresponded verj' closely), were as 

 follows : — 



Out of the eighteen packages of 100 Cauliflower seeds, the following 

 numbers respectivelv came up — viz., 86, 70, 66, 60, 56, 54, 34, 52, 51, 

 51, 50, 44, 44, 44, 43, 39, 36, 24. 



Out of the eighteen packages of 100 Broccoli seeds, the following num- 

 bers respectively came up— viz., 86, S3, 70, 68, 65, 62, 60, 59, 56, 55, 

 50, 46, 42, 42, 39, 35. 



Out of the eighteen packages of 100 Carrot seeds, the following 

 were the numbers which came up — viz., 61, 56, 54, 48, 47, 45, 44, 43, 

 41, 38. 38, 37, 37, 35, 33. 30, 19, 14. 



Out of the eighteen packages of 100 White Tnmip seeds, the follow- 

 ing numbers respectivelv came uj) — viz., 98, 95, 93, 87, 87, S3, 82, 71, 

 70, 68, 68. G6y 65, 64, 62', 60, 6S, 57. 



Out of the eighteen packages of 100 Yellow Turnip seeds, the follow- 

 ing numbers respectively came up — viz., 95, 84, 79, 79, 78, 77, 72, 72, 

 67, 66, 65, 64, 62, 58, 55, oo, 44, 2S. 



11. It should be added that the quality of different kinds of seeds 

 ©htained from the same tradesman was not always uniform, all good 

 or all bad ; the Cauliflower would sometimes be inferior and the 

 Turnip superior, and so on ; but on the whole, a good position in one 

 kind was generally accompanied by a good position in all. It is also 

 to be observed that the general per-centage is less on some seeds than 

 others — a difference probably due to the greater care required in har- 

 Testing them, and in the case of Carrots, to the difficulty in separating 

 the good seed from the had. 



12. In seeking for a remedy for the evil, your Committee recognised 

 the existence of two distinct elements in it, each requiring different 

 treatment: — 1, the actual' adulteration of seeds; and, 2, the mere 

 keeping them too long and selling them when too old. 



13. Actual adulteration is entitled to no mercy. It is a deliberate 

 and intentional fraud, in the suppression of which the trade is as 

 much interested as the general public, and ought to be suppressed by 

 the strong hnnd of the law in the same way as any other fraud. 



14. It is different with the selling of old seed. The seeds produced 

 in different years, like different vintages, vai7 in their quality and in 

 Iheir power of retaining theii-. vitality. It thus sometimes happens 

 that two-year-old seed is better than one-year-old. There is thus 

 a special difficulty in dealing with it ; but it is clear that the public 

 are entitled to get what they pay for ; and if it is necessary, to secure 

 this, that the dealer should test the quality of his seeds each year, it 

 is hia duty to do so. 



15. It seems a right and proper thing that Government should 

 testow some pains in protecting the very large numbers of ignorant 

 and nneducated people who have to purchase seeds. In Prussia, 

 Sachveretitndigen. or, as we should call them, experts, are appointed 

 fcy Government, whose duty it is, for a certain fee, to test the quality 

 of the seeds of such merchants as apply to them, and to publish the 



results ; and in some districts (Saxony and Wurtemberg, for example) 

 there are officials, paid by the Government or district, whose business 

 it is to look after the culture of fruit trees and to give gratuitous 

 advice to all who apply to them for it. 



16. But, independently of the action of Government, your Com- 

 mittee are disposed to think that the Council of the Koyal Horticul- 

 tural Society might itself do much to encourage the .cale of good seeds, 

 if not to prevent the sale of bad. How it can most effectually exert 

 its influence for this purpose, is a question on which the Council might 

 probably obtain useful suggestions from the respectable members of 

 the seed trade ; and your Committee recommend that a number of 

 thtm be invited to meet the Council and give their views as to the 

 best steps to be taken to remedy the evil. 



PLANTS IN FLO"WEE DUEING SEPTEMBER. 



Sept. 4. Nolana prostrata 



San%italia procumbcns 

 Anemone acutipetala 

 Pyrethrum camemn 

 Anthericum lihago 

 Tobacco 



Gypsophila prostrata 

 Lathyrus rotnndifoU . 

 Lobelia bt. Clair 

 prop in qua 

 ramosa 

 fulgeng 

 multi flora 

 gracilis 

 „ 7. Limnanthes rosea 

 Hibiscus africanus 

 Lycbnis chalcedonicn 

 Ainaranthus tricolor 

 Centrantbus cameus 

 Callirh'>e digitata 



pedata 

 Ipoma-a violacea 



quamocht 

 Malva llorenii 

 Atbanasia annua 

 Mesembyranthemum gla- 



brum 

 Artemisia annua 

 Erysimum arkansanum 

 Gaill^rdia aristata 

 picta 

 Wellsiana 

 Clintonia pulchella 

 Nemophila discoidalis 

 Lotus Jacobieus 

 Cuphea platycentra 



Btrigillosa 

 Manraiidya Barclnrana 

 ,, 10. Amaranthus caudatus 

 Ageratum mexicanum 

 Senecio elegans 

 IVIirabilis jalapa 

 Pemettya mucronata 

 Gnaphalium lanatHm 

 Dapbne laureola 

 Omphalodes verna 

 Viscaria oculata 

 Coronilla emerus 

 Linarifl purpurea 

 Pentstemon gentianoides 

 Salvia patens 

 fiilgens 

 bicolor 

 „ 14, Fuchsia fulgena 

 microphylla 

 Phloxes 



Hibiscus syriacns 

 Stenactis specioss 

 Sedum iiieboldii 

 Statice armeria 

 Erica ramentacea 

 Artemisia abrotanum 

 maritimum 

 absinthium 

 Calycanthus floridus 

 Ceanothus americanus 



azureus 

 Cistus undulatus 

 Clematis vitalba 

 Escallonla rubra 



Sept. 14. Gaultberia procumbens 

 Erica tetrallx 



vagans 

 Ancbusa sempervirens 



italica 

 Leycesteria formosa 

 Aconitum autumnalo 

 ,, l*^. Passiflora cff-rulea 

 Spiriea Douglasii 

 Weifjela rosea variegata 

 - Achillea ptarmica plena 

 Echinops ritro 

 Corydalis lutea 

 Asclepias incamata 

 Helenium autumnal© 

 Eri-^eron Villarsii 

 Aster elegans 

 Lejitandra sibirica 

 Nepeta macrantha 

 Myosotis alpestris 

 Lintiria dalmatica 

 ,, 21. Sedum purpureum 



Gyneriom arj;enteuni 

 Marica Xuttallii 

 Pentborum sedoides 

 Plumbago capensis 

 Tradeecantia congesta 



splendena 

 Tigridia pnvonia 



concbiflora 

 (Enothera grandiflora 

 Jasione montana 

 Gladiolus Randavensis 

 ,, 2G. Gnaphalium lauatum 



Sempervivum tectoruna 

 Lilium Catesbai 



rubrum 



superb um 



venustmn 

 Tritoma uvaria 



jLtranUifloia 

 <!*xalis floribanda rosea 

 Agapantbus umbellatuS 

 Ruta graveolena 

 „ 29. Crocus autnmnalis 

 Statice armevia 

 Amaiyllis belladonna 

 Jasminum bignoniacetuu 



pubigerum 



revolutnm 



officinale 

 Antholyza coccinea 

 Lonicera Donglasii 

 Kubus laciniatus 



nutkanus 

 Tamarix gallica 

 Erica vulgaris rubra 

 Chelone obliqua 

 Pentstemon confertum 



ovatum 

 Potentilla bifurcata 



McNabiana 

 Hesperis matronalis 

 Mimulus tigrinus 



moschatus 

 Commelina tuberosa 

 Pyrethrum partheninia 



plenum 

 Verbena venosa 

 Aloysia citrlodora 



^M. H., Acklam Hall, Middlesborough-on-Tees. 



^VHOPtTLEBEERIES. 



I HATE seen it provokingly announced that "VThortlebemes 

 ^vere selling in Providence at 10 cents a-quart, and we learn 

 that the price in 'Woonsoeket is only 5c. Happy Woonsocketites, 

 to have a supply of berries at that price ! Here (Newport), 

 they are to be had, but not for a dime, be the market never so 

 well supplied. Why we are forced to pay more than our neigh- 

 bours for the fruits that grow wild on every hillside and bit of 

 waste land I know not. 1 only Imow that the cry is, as nsnal? 



