264 



FIELD CROPS 



before sowing or before purchasing it in quantity. A 

 simple germinator may be made from two plates and two 

 pieces of blotting paper or cloth, as shown in Figure 94. The 

 cloths should be dampened and a definite number of seeds, 

 one hundred or two hundred, placed between them. The 

 second plate should then be put on as a cover and the ger- 

 minator set in a moderately warm place, where there will not 

 be any marked change of temperature during the day or 

 night. The germinator should be examined occasionally to 

 see that the cloths do not dry out. In about ten days, the 



seeds which show strong 

 germination should be 

 counted and the per- 

 centage of germination 

 figured . If it is low, the 

 seed should not be sown 

 at all, or the rate of seed- 

 ing should be increased 

 sufficiently to supply 

 the proper quantity of germmable seed. No sample which 

 shows a low percentage of germination or any considerable 

 proportion of impurities should be purchased. It does not 

 pay to buy any but the best quality of grass and clover 

 seed. Cheap seed is nearly always low in germination or 

 contains large quantities of foreign seeds. 



337. Time to Sow. In the Northern states, the grasses 

 are usually sown in the spring with the spring grains. In the 

 winter wheat belt, timothy is generally sown in the fall with 

 the wheat and clover is sown very early the following spring. 

 Better results may often be obtained by sowing the timothy 

 and clover together without a nurse crop in August or early 

 in September, after winter wheat has been harvested. The 

 land can be plowed and put in good condition immediately 

 after the wheat is cut, and a good seed bed will then be 

 ready for seeding at the proper time. The objection to this 



Figure 94— Plate germinator fortesting small seeds 



