1U2 



CONTROL SERIES No. 96 



QUALITY OF ONION SEED PRODUCED IN THE CONNECTICUT 

 VALLEY, SEASON OF 1937 



During the spring months of 1938, eighteen lots of onion seed produced in 

 the Connecticut Valley were cleaned at the Seed Laboratory, using the same 

 method 1 as in previous years. 



Conditions for culture of the crop and drying of the seed were extremely 

 unfavorable in 1937, resulting in a low yield of mature seed as shown by the 

 proportion of cleaned seed from the bulks received. This and the low com- 

 parative viability of onion seed of the various grades obtained from each lot 

 is shown by the following table. Lots 1, 2 and 8 had been partly cleaned 

 before milling at the laboratory. 



a See Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station, Control Series, Bulletin Nos. 86,. 

 1936 and 92, 1938. 



CLEANING SEED 

 Service to Tobacco Growers 



Tobacco growers either produce their own seed or obtain it from a neighbor 

 who has a surplus of a desirable strain. 



For many years locally grown seed was cleaned by the Experiment Station 

 at the Botanical Laboratory, using apparatus designed and assembled by Dr. 

 George E. Stone. Due to lessened demand for the service and the need for new 

 apparatus, cleaning of tobacco seed was discontinued in 1935. 



Increased production of tobacco in 1936 and 1937 led to renewed demand for 

 this service in response to which a new type of inexpensive but efficient cleaner 

 was set up at the Seed Laboratory in the spring of 1938, and 42 samples — 

 aggregating 33.57 lbs. were cleaned to a net of 27.21 lbs. 



Lots of tobacco seed for cleaning should be sent to the Seed Laboratory, West 

 Experiment Station. No charge is made for amounts of seed not in excess of one 

 pound and each lot of cleaned seed will be tested for viability. 



Publication of This Document Approved by the Commission on Administration 



and Finance 

 2500— 2-'39. No. 6269 



