HOW TO PROCURE GOOD AND TRUE SEEDS. 213 



use of this seed is very greatl}^ lessened. [This is on account of 

 the work of the consulting botanist.] 



" Seventy-six suinples of cocksfoot [orchard grass] were on the 

 whole pure. Six per cent had some small r3'e grass seeds in them, 

 and in one case 20 j^er cent of Yorkshire fog {Holctis Janatus,) 

 were included in the sample. 



''A fair proportion of 65 samples of meadow foxtail was found 

 ^ood. No less than 64 per cent of the samples of Agrostis alba 

 var. stolonifera, fiorin or creeping bent, were infested with ergot, 

 a most dangerous fungus. 



"■ Out of 126 samples of clover, 19 per cent of the red clover 

 contained seeds of dodder, and 25 per cent of the alsike contained 

 seeds of this parasite. 



" Fewer samples of grass mixture have been submitted to me 

 during the past year, but the samples examined have more firmly 

 convinced me that it is most undesirable for growers to purchase 

 their seed in this form. One mixture consisted entirely of rye 

 grasses, with some trefoil and a little clover, and in addition the 

 rye grass was infested with ergot. Another consisted of rye 

 grass with one per cent of other grasses and clovers." 



If railroad companies find it necessary to employ engineers, 

 if trustees think it best to employ a landscape gardener to lay out 

 a park or cemetery, if builders employ architects, why should not 

 the farmers, at a trifling expense to each, employ a consulting 

 botanist at an experiment station, to examine seeds before 

 purchase ? 



We look forward with hope to the time when every State shall 

 have one or more such stations. 



To some extent, the following plan adopted by Professor Shel- 

 ton, of Kansas, will work well : 



'' Our practice, which has been entirely satisfactory, has been 

 to send to those dealers who make a specialty of grass seeds in 

 the sections where the seeds are raised. We have always sent 



