CHAPTER XV 

 SEED SELECTION 



It is important that the farmer plant good seed, for the 

 seed is the foundation of the new crop. Poor seed may not 

 grow at all, or if it does grow, it may give such a poor stand 

 of plants that the crop will not be a paying one. Again, poor 

 seed may bring in many weed seeds, and on most farms there 

 are already too many weeds. Also more seed is required to 

 plant an acre if the seed is not good. This makes an extra 

 expense. 



Purity. — In choosing seed it is important that it be free 

 from weed seeds, chaff, sticks and dirt. Some farm crop 

 seeds look very much like some other seeds which are not 

 useful, so that it is easy for dishonest seedsmen to put into the 

 good seed some of these less valuable seeds and sell the mix- 

 ture to the farmer without the farmer's knowing it. The 

 seeds of yellow trefoil and bur clover look very much like 

 alfalfa seeds, and they are often found in samples of alfalfa 

 seed. The yellow trefoil can also be easily mixed with clover 

 seed. A weed seed known as buckhorn is very often found in 

 clover and alfalfa seeds. Small seeds like the clovers and 

 grasses usually contain more weed seeds and mixtures than 

 large seeds, because they are more difficult to get clean in 

 threshing and also because the farmer does not know their 



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