[Reprinted from the Yearbook of the U. S. Department of Agriculture for 18U.V | 

 TESTING SEEDS AT HOME. 



By A. J. 



. T. .S. Department of Agrieutture. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING GOOD SEED. 



The iin port ance of seed testing is recognized not only by profes- 

 sional seedsmen, but also by intelligent fanners. The necessity for 

 testing seed arises from the fact that not every seed contains a living 

 germ. The absence of a living germ makes the seed useless for the 

 reproduction of its kind. To find out what proportion of the seeds 

 in a sample contains germs capable of growth is therefore the object 

 of all seed testing. 



Good seed is essential to successful agriculture. No matter how 

 well the farmer prepares his land; no matter how much time, labor, 

 and money lie spends on it, if much or all of his seed fails to "come 

 up" he will either have a poor crop or will be obliged to reseed, thus 

 losing time and labor. .Many causes may contribute to prevent him 

 from getting a good stand, but if he can eliminate any one of these 

 he is by so much the gainer. Poor seed is a great cause of poor 

 stands. 



The farmer and the gardener get seed from one of two sources 

 they either grow it themselves or buy it. If the former, there is less 

 danger of its being poor. The chief source of poor seed is careless 

 handling in harvesting and storing. If seed gets too damp, mold 

 will destroy much, or the seed will begin to sprout, then dry out, and 

 the germ will be killed. If seed is bought, the chance of getting a 

 pooi- quality increases many fold. If all seed was bought from relia- 

 ble dealers, there would be far less cause for complaint, but farmers 

 too often buy seed where they can get it the cheapest. They pay 

 their money for trash that is either full of harmful weed seeds or has 

 a liberal admixture of old and dead seeds. 



Whenever large quantities of seed are purchased, they should be 

 tested for purity and germination. The table on the following page 

 gives the result of a few tests out of the many that were made in 

 the Department seed laboratory last year of seeds bought from sup- 



posed reliable seedsmen. 



175 



