364 COMMON WEEDS 



entails much trouble, waste of time, and loss of crop. 

 When any suspicion attaches to the seed under con- 

 sideration it is the best policy to leave it alone. Firms 

 who have once been found to seek an unholy profit by 

 oiling old clover seed, by mixing rape or dead Charlock 

 seed with turnip seed, or trefoil with lucerne or red 

 clover, or meadow fescue with ryegrass, &c., or are 

 guilty of any act of adulteration, should be avoided as 

 unworthy of further confidence. 



Purity and germinating capacity of agricultural seeds 

 are often closely related to the quantity of weeds which 

 are found among crops. If the seed samples contain 

 weed seeds, or if the seed partly fails to germinate, there 

 will be fewer cultivated plants in the soil, and hence 

 more room and greater opportunity for weeds to 

 increase and flourish. 



Taking a Sample. The first thing to be done in test- 

 ing a quantity of seed is to take a representative sample. 

 For taking official samples various institutions have 

 their own rules, and many instruments have been 

 designed for the purpose of obtaining reliable samples. 

 In order to indicate the general principle it will suffice 

 here to give the rules generally adopted. 



The seed to be tested should be drawn with a seed 

 sampler if possible, in order to obtain a sample repre- 

 sentative of the whole bulk. Small lots should be 

 taken from the top, middle, and bottom of each bag. 



The separate lots must be mixed thoroughly together 

 and divided into three parts, one of which is retained 

 by the merchant, while the other two are forwarded to 

 the Seed-testing Station ; of the latter, one is used for 

 obtaining the germinating capacity and other points of 

 the sample, and the other is kept for future reference in 

 case of dispute. 



Samples taken by merchants, as well as those taken 



