Alfalfa in Kansas. 



211 



690,900 seeds to the acre enough to make 16 seeds of Russian thistle for 

 every square foot in an acre of ground, if this brand of so-called alfalfa 

 seed were sown at the rate of 15 pounds to the acre. 



One sample contained 1147 seeds of foxtail in a teaspoonful, besides 

 175 seeds of crab grass, and considerable numbers of other seeds. Of 

 this sample, 22.6 per cent consisted of weed seeds, and 4.2 per cent trash. 



One lot of alfalfa, which the sender alleged to have bought as "pure 

 seed," contained eighteen kinds of weeds, including black bindweed and 

 1000 seeds of foxtail and other weed seeds per five-gram sample analyzed. 

 In addition, there was 6 per cent of trash, making 36.5 per cent foreign 

 matter of all kinds in this "pure seed." 



FIG. 190. Sweet clover seeds, highly magnified. 



It is bad enough when a man is deceived, and plants poor and bad seed 

 unwittingly. How much worse is it where a man wilfully plants or com- 

 pels another to sow the land down with bad seed? Here is the case of a 

 man whose "alfalfa" seed, so-called, contained 10.2 per cent trash and 5.5 

 per cent weed seed about three times the amount of weed seed that 

 should ever be allowed to pass. Among these weeds were dodder and 

 large quantities of foxtail and crab grass fourteen kinds altogether. 

 The sample germinated only 15 per cent. And yet a landowner insisted 

 on his tenant planting this seed. With a proper seed law such seed could 

 not get on the market at all. 



