206 TESTING SEEDS. SOME COMMON WEEDS. 



In looking over a large number of agricultural reports of the 

 Northern States we find in some of them much space is given to 

 discussions of the grasses by the farmers at their winter meet- 

 ings. There is much said about the care of meadows and pas- 

 tures, with many repetitions. We cannot help being strongly 

 impressed with the idea that we need many more careful observ- 

 ers — ^farmers who are trained students of science. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

 TESTING SEEDS. SOME COMMON WEEDS. 



Seed stations and Their Work. — Whether a seed is liable 

 to grow or not depends much on how it was cured and the nature 

 of the place where it has been stored. In the following account 

 of some experiments this subject will receive some attention. 



The first station for testing seeds was established by Dr. 

 Knobbe, of Saxony, in 1869, In Germany, in 1878, upwards of 

 forty of the experimental stations had attached to them a seed 

 control department, and 14 of these did nothing else. 



Adulterations. — These stations discovered adulterations of seeds 

 which were "most ingenious in character, harmful in effect, and 

 remarkable in amount." One practice is to kill seeds by boiling 

 or baking and mix them with some desirable seeds which they 

 resemble. The dead seeds in that case tell no tales. 



Old seeds, or seeds of another variety, are often dyed or 

 bleached with sulphur, and used to adulterate good seeds of red 

 clover or some other species. Old seeds are dressed with oil and 

 sometimes rubbed by machinery to improve their appearance. 

 Seeds of rye-grass and Italian rye-grass are often adulterated 



