GRASS AND HAY 61 



in choosing the seed to be sown. If poor seed be used the expected 

 crop may be a partial or total failure. In addition the loss of the 

 labor involved in putting in the crop may be a considerable item of 

 expense. It is essential to know the characteristics of both good and 

 poor seed in order that an intelligent selection may be made. 



Characteristics of Good Seed. Good red clover seed is plump 

 or well filled, bright with a slight luster, the color of individual 

 seeds ranging from violet to light yellow. The individual seeds 

 should be at least of medium size and fairly uniform. The seed 

 should be free from adulterants of any kind and also free from 

 seeds of noxious weeds. Very new seed is oftqn undesirable to sow 

 because of the hard seed it contains. 



Hard Seed. The so-called hard seed has a coat in such a con- 

 dition that it absorbs moisture very slowly and may not germinate 

 for a period of several weeks or even months. In very new seed the 

 proportion of hard seed may amount to as much as 50 or 60 per 

 cent. A year or two later a much greater proportion of the same 

 seed will germinate promptly. A germination test readily shows the 

 proportion of hard seed present in any given sample. 



Advantages of Home-grown Seed. Several advantages attend 

 the use of home-grown seed. In the first place it is quite certain to 

 produce a crop especially adapted to the local climatic conditions, 

 more so than seed brought in from a, distance and usually from an 

 unknown source. Home-grown seed is not likely to contain impuri- 

 ties foreign to the neighborhood and it is usually possible to obtain 

 seed from fields known to be free from dodder, buckhorn, dock, etc. 

 The age of home-grown seed may usually be definitely determined. 

 This is often impossible with seed purchased in the open market. 

 Open-market seed may be excellent or it may be very undesirable. 

 If seed is to be purchased from other localities care should be taken 

 that it comes from a region possessing at least as rigorous a climate, 

 especially if there is any necessity of seeding a hardy strain of clover. 



Characteristics of Poor Seed. Red clover used may be poor and 

 undesirable from several points of view. ^ Such seed is constantly 

 being sold to farmers and should be recognized and rejected. It may 

 be poorly developed, many seeds being shriveled and dull brown in 

 color. Such seeds will not produce plants. Often red clover is 

 adulterated by the use of yellow trefoil, dead clover seed, cheap im- 

 ported seed, or weedy screenings. Each of these constituents reduces 

 the stand of healthy plants. 



Cleaning Red Clover Seed. Some of the weed seeds appearing 

 in red clover seed can be removed by the farmer by the use of a 

 wire-cloth sieve containing 20 meshes to the linear inch. Most of the 

 clover seeds of medium size are held back by such a sieve and prac- 

 tically all the smaller weed seeds pass through. The true clover 

 dodder which is a very noxious pest in clover fields is quite effectively 

 removed in this way. Most of the seeds of the field dodder are also 

 removed. Seed of buckhorn, wild carrot, wild chicory, thistles, and 

 others of similar size are mostly held back by the sieve. The small- 

 grained clover seed imported from Europe largely passes through 



