58 EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



as a rule, unscrupulous, most of them testing their own seed, 

 as they do not care to injure their business by unloading on 

 the public seeds which are worthless. They do not, however, 

 as a rule, guarantee purity or the percentage of germination. 



Twelve purity tests of clover, alfalfa and mixed grass seed 

 were made, the highest percentage being 99.4, the lowest 85.3. 

 The impurities found in our seeds are largely weed seeds of a 

 noxious nature. One farmer informed us that after seeding 

 down his large piece of land it required considerable time and 

 expense to pull up the dock which had established itself in his 

 field as a result of using seed which contained seeds of this 

 noxious weed. There is constant complaint in regard to the 

 impurity of seeds, and a considerable burden is imposed on the 

 farmer by his being obliged to waste time and money in exter- 

 minating the noxious weeds introduced in his grass seed. It 

 should be stated, however, that all weeds found in newly seeded 

 land do not necessarily come in the grass seed. The past sum- 

 mer many lawns planted with the best seed obtainable produced 

 nothing but pigweed, crab grass, etc., for the soil moisture, on 

 account of the drought, has been insufficient to start grass and 

 clover, while it is one of the characteristics of many weeds that 

 they possess a wide range of adaptability, and will survive under 

 conditions which would be disastrous to grass and clover. 



Seed to be tested or separated should be sent by mail or 

 express to G. E. Stone, Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment 

 Station. The work is done gratuitously by the station for people 

 living in the State, but the postage or express charges should be 

 paid by the person sending the samples. 



