22 EXPERIJNIENT STATION. [Jan. 



SOiME VARIABLE RESULTS OF SEED TESTING. 



G. E. STONE. 



The enactment in several States of various seed control laws, 

 many of which are strict, has offered opportunity to study the 

 accuracy of our whole system of seed testing. It has often been 

 a question, particularly among the seed dealers, whether we are 

 in a position to pass and enforce stringent seed laws. Ac- 

 companying the laws there is usually given a standard for the 

 purity and germinating capacity of seeds. If seeds are improp- 

 erly labeled, contain certain noxious weed seeds or fall below 

 the standards given, according to the phrasing of some laws the 

 seed dealer is liable to a fine. 



Very different results are often obtained in seed-tesfing labo- 

 ratories, it often requiring duplicate tests to obtain anything ap- 

 proaching the true averages. The results given in the following 

 six tables were obtained by a large seed firm which collected a 

 number of typical samples from bulk and sent them to several 

 seed-testing stations for examination. The tables include tests 

 of timothy, millet, Kentucky blue grass, orchard grass, alfalfa 

 and red clover. The numbers in the first column of each table 

 indicate the different seed-testing stations; for example, in the 

 case of red clover, 19 different laboratories reported, and in 

 nearly all cases germination and purity tests were made of each 

 seed. 



