210 Kansas State Board of Agriculture. 



has been kept even twelve years should germinate anywhere between 50 

 and 90 per cent. In the seed laboratory of the department of botany at 

 the Agricultural College, in the case of one sample of alfalfa seed thirty 

 years old, over 80 per cent of the seed germinated. 



BAD SEED. 



As stated, alfalfa seed that is shriveled and dark brown in color will 

 not grow. Seed gf this character, according to the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, is actually imported, at a cost of about two cents a 

 pound, for mixing with good alfalfa seed. This is done at the farmer's 

 expense, and to his loss. In six months of one year nearly 67,000 pounds 

 of alfalfa seed were imported that contained from 12 to 70 per cent of 

 broken seed and trash, and in which but 5 to 7 per cent of the seed would 

 grow, as determined by actual germination tests. One of these imported 

 lots of alfalfa seed contained nearly 7 per cent of weed seeds, or 32,500 

 per pound, of which 5495 were dodder. It is plain that seed of the above 

 description consists simply of screenings, and no other object for its 

 importation exists than to use it for "grading down" good native seed. 

 Farmers should beware of any alfalfa seed in the market that looks brown 

 or shriveled. In the Kansas market there is always a certain amount of 

 bad seed similar to the above. 



Weed Seeds in Alfalfa. 



In the eighteen months preceding November 1, 1914, the seed labora- 

 tory at Manhattan analyzed 487 samples of alfalfa seed sent in from all 

 parts of the state. 



TABLE No. 24. Kinds of weed seed found in alfalfa seed. 



74 of the samples contained dodder. 

 91 of the samples contained Russian thistle. 

 34 of the samples contained star thistle. 

 18 of the samples contained bindweed. 

 16 of the samples contained chicory. 

 5 of the samples contained Canada thistle. 



All of these, without exception, are bad weeds, and most of them are 

 noxious weeds. One sample of alfalfa seed contained 57 dodder seeds 

 per five grams (a rounded teaspoonful) . This would mean over 5500 

 dodder seeds to the pound of alfalfa seed. If sown on the land at the 

 rate of 15 pounds to the acre, it would mean 82,500 dodder seeds sown on 

 an acre, or nearly two seeds to every square foot enough dodder, if only 

 half the seeds grew, to blot out a field of alfalfa completely. 



Another alfalfa sample contained enough seeds of bindweed to make 

 over 1700 to the pound enough to sow 25,500 per acre, which means that 

 a little less than every two square feet of ground in an acre would be 

 planted with a seed of the worst weed scourge known to Kansas. 



Another alfalfa sample contained chicory seed in about the same 

 amount, and still another contained about the same amount of wild 

 mustard. p!^, 



One sample of alfalfa seed analyzed contained 470 Russian thistle 

 seeds in five grams. This was enough Russian thistle seed to run 



