SEED INSPECTION 



By F. A. McLaughlini 



This bulletin gives the results of analysis of official seed samples, collected 

 by the State Department of Agriculture during the year 1934 from the open 

 markets in 112 towns and cities of Massachusetts, and analyzed at the Seed 

 Testing Laboratory of the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station at 

 Amherst. Between October 1, 1933, and October 1, 1934, the Seed Laboratory 

 analyzed 1,402 samples, of which 732 were collected by the State Department 

 of Agriculture, 289 submitted by dealers and farmers, and 185 by the Rhode 

 Island Department of Agriculture; 196 were purchased from wholesalers for 

 special tests. 



This bulletin also contains results of field tests for trueness to types of 300 

 samples of sweet corn, and 139 lots of the following vegetables: beans, beets, 

 carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, parsnips, radish, spinach, squash and 

 turnips, conducted by the Department of Vegetable Gardening; also notes on 

 the relation of seed-borne diseases observed in laboratory germination of sweet 

 corn to emergence in the lield. 



SUMMARY OF RESULTS 



Alfalfa to Timothy 



The following table of analysis covering the 165 samples of seed in this group 

 shows that again, as in former years, the most common violation of the seed 

 law is the lack of certain required information on the label. This information 

 was lacking, wholly or in part, for 61 samples (36.97%). Other deficiencies 

 shown are 27, or 16.36%, below in germination; 5, or 3.03%, with excessive 

 weed seed; and 19, or 11.51%, below in purity. In all, 95 samples (57.57%) 

 of this group either did not comply with the label requirements or were not 

 up to guarantee, even when proper tolerance allowances were made. 



Mixtures of Not More Than Two Lots of Seeds 



No samples declared as such were taken by inspectors. Five samples, 

 however, sold for pure seed of a single kind, were found to be rai:jJtures of two 

 sorts of seed. The table shows them otherwise deficient. 



Special Mixtures 



Forty-one samples were analyzed in this group. Fifteen (36.58%) complied 

 with requirements of the law in every respect. The remaining twenty-six were 

 only partially labeled or were found not to comply with statements as labeled. 



Vegetable Seed 



A larger number of samples of vegetable seed was taken then formerly. Each 

 of the 521 samples tested met the label requirements of the law. On the whole 

 the quality of seed as shown by germination is equal to that of any previous 

 collection of official samples tested in this laboratory; yet 199, or 38.20% 

 of the samples, show germination below the standards required by law in 



•Miss Jessie L. Anderson served as seed analyst for a period of three months; Miss Margaret 

 E. Nagle resigned September 1, 1934. 



