SEEDAGE 



SEEDAGE 



1645 



apparatus with the open side opposite to him and to- 

 ward the light. The mirror should be so arranged that 

 it will not throw any light into the operator's face. 

 With this apparatus the outlines of grass seeds within 

 the glumes can be clearly seen, and the chaff can be 

 removed with the other impurities of the sample. 



A much simpler nu'thod of identifying the sound 

 seeds in grasses consists in tlie use of a pane of glass, 

 over the surface of which the seed, thoroughly wet, has 

 been thinly spread. This glass is held up to the light, 

 and with the forceps the good seed may be easily picked 

 out. It would be well for the purchaser of grass seed. 



2300. Mold for making plaster of Paris germinating dishes, 

 and a Petri dish. 



especially of meadow fox-tail, awnless brome and vel- 

 vet grass, to make use of this simple test. For labora- 

 tory purposes the mirror box is to be greatly preferred, 

 since the seed can be handled much better when dry. 



Testiwf Beet Seed. — Special methods are also re- 

 quired for testing red and sugar beet "balls," each of 

 which contains from 1 to 7 seeds. Three separate lots 

 of 100 balls each are selected with great care, so as to 

 represent average samples. These are rubbed slightly 

 between the hands, soaked 6-15 hours, then placed on 

 blotting paper or sand at a constant temperature of 20° 

 C, for 18 hours out of 24, the rest of the time at 30° C. 



In 3, 5, 8 and 11 days the balls are examined. When- 

 ever 1, 2, or 3 seeds have sprouted in a single ball, they 

 are carefully cut out with a knife, and the balance of 

 the ball is removed to a second seed-bed, which is num- 

 bered to correspond with the number of the seeds which 

 have germinated in the balls placed therein. At the 

 next examination the sprouted seeds are again cut out 

 and the clusters removed to another bed, numbered to 

 agree with the total number of seeds per hall which 

 have sprouted. The test is closed on the 14th day, 

 when the sum of all the germinating seed of each lot of 

 100 clusters, together with the number of unsprouted 

 seeds, is ascertained. The average of all the clusters is 

 taken into account, especial care being exercised not to 

 count as seeds any cavities which were empty at the 

 beginning of the test. 



Test for Genuineness or '^Purity" of Stock. — The 

 genuineness of the seeds of vegetables and other horti- 

 cultural varieties of plants can only be told by means 

 of a field test, which should be made in such cases 

 whenever possible. The purity of stock of such seeds 

 is of far more importance than a high percentage of 

 purity and germination. In making field tests of differ- 

 ent varieties of seed a check test should be conducted, 

 using a sample, for purposes of comparison, which is 

 known to he aiithentic. The different tests must be 

 subjected to the same conditions of soil, etc. The gen- 

 uineness of the seed of grass, clovers, and other forage 

 plants can usually be ascertained by mere inspection 

 and comparison with a standard collection. 



Gilbert H. Hicks. 



[The preceding article was prepared for this work by 

 the late Gilbert H. Hicks, of Washington, D. C, in 1899, 

 while in charge of pure seed investigations for the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture. It is printed practically 

 as it was written. The subsequent changes in the De- 

 partment methods are given below by Mr. Hicks' suc- 

 cessor. L. H. B.] 



The methods and apparatus in use in tlie Seed Labora- 

 tory of the U. S. Department of Agriculture have un- 

 dergone some changes since the foregoing was written. 

 These changes have been the necessary result of ex- 

 perience and are in substance the following: 



While purchasers are urged to buy the best seeds, it 

 is doubtful whether, under the conditions of trade in 

 the United States, arbitrary standards have much value. 

 The comparison of the price and quality of different 

 grades offered means more than an ideal standard which 

 it is seldom practicable to enforce. A system of inspec- 

 tion that would certainly detect all weed seeds would 

 make the seed too expensive for practical use. 



The standard chamber is now covered with asbestos 

 lagging instead of with felt; a single door covered with 

 the lagging has been substituted for the double doors. 

 An air bulb regulator, devised by Mr. E. Brown, has 

 been substituted for the mercury bulb regulator. 



The temperatures needed for the successful germina- 

 tion of seeds depend on the kind of seeds tested. Let- 

 tuce must have a low temperature, 15° C. giving best 

 results. A temperature of 25-30° C. will almost entirely 

 inhibit germination. Seeds of teosinte, on the other 

 hand, demand 30° C, while vine seeds give best results 

 under a temperature alternating between 20 and 30° C. 

 A constant temperature at 20° C. is seldom used. Seeds 

 naturally germinate under conditions of constantly 

 changing temperature and favorable natural conditions 

 should be reproduced as nearly as possible in the lab- 

 oratory. Kentucky blue grass seed is not tested in the 

 greenhouse, better results being obtained in the cham- 

 ber by means of alternating temperature. When seeds, 

 as of sugar beet, are sold on a guarantee, the re-test 

 should be made under conditions similar to those under 

 which the original test was made. The energy of ger- 

 mination, that is, the percentage of seeds that sprout in 

 about one-fourth the full time, nearly represents what 

 the seed will do in the field and is of greater importance 

 than the full time test. j^^ j_ Pieters 



The Seed Trade of America..— Barly History . — The 

 history of the seed business in colonial times is largely 

 one of importation from Holland and England, when 

 small hucksters carried a few boxes of popular seeds 

 with an assortment of dry goods, foodstuffs or hardware. 

 Corn, barley, peas, onions, fruits and vegetables, nec- 

 essaries in fact for direct use, first claimed the atten- 

 tion of the colonists. Towards the end of the eighteenth 

 century we begin to find references to the saving of 

 stock seeds, and in the newspapers of the day are a 

 number of advertisements of shopkeepers who dealt in 

 seeds. Agricultural seeds were an article of commerce 

 as early as 1747 (Pieters), clover, onions, beans, peas, 

 carrots, cabbage and cauliflower, etc., being raised for 

 seed in the colonies at that time, though chiefly im- 

 ported. At that time Boston did most of the business. 



2301. Home-made germinating apparatus. 

 A, complete; B, section. 



Among the earliest advertisers of seeds for sale were 

 Nathaniel Bird, 1763, a book dealer of Newport, R. I.; 

 Gideon Welles, "on the Point," 1764; Samuel Deall, a 

 dealer of general merchandise in New York in 1776; 

 William Davidson of New York in 1768, while in Phila- 

 delphia, in 1772, we find one Pelatiah Webster advertis- 

 ing clover and duck grass seed; James Longhead 

 "colly- flower " seed in 1775; while David Reid kept a 

 general assortment in the same year. 



Development of American Trarfe. — It was not until the 

 opening of the nineteenth century that America began to 

 find that seeds could be grown here as profitably as they 

 could be imported. Grant Thorburn, in New York, and 



