CHAPTER V 



FARM AND GARDEN SEED 



Good tilth brings seeds, 

 111 tilture, weeds. 



TUPPER. 



IMPURITIES are frequently found in farm and garden seeds. 

 Weeds are disseminated through this channel. The problem of 

 obtaining pure seeds, true to name, and free from weed seeds, is 

 one of the most serious things to be considered in good agricultural 

 practice. 



How Impurities are Detected. Weed seeds can usually be 

 detected by means of a good hand lens or reading glass (Fig. 36). 



The trueness to name can best 

 be determined by growing the 

 seeds. Some of this kind of 

 impurity can be detected soon 

 after sprouting time. But dif- 

 ferences between closely re- 

 lated varieties can seldom be 

 detected by growth until the 

 development of stems and 

 leaves and perhaps not until 

 flowers are formed. This may 



FIG. 36. Such a lens is inexpensive yet rpmiirp too milph timp to l)P of 

 efficient in helping to detect weed seeds in 



any seed sample. Each student and each US e to the grower before plant - 



grower should use a simple lens of some kind. . 



ing the main crop. 



.Experts who make special study of seeds are frequently able 

 to detect mixture of varieties of seeds or to discover improper 

 naming of varieties. 



Students may compare seeds found in samples with other 

 labeled samples, as in figures 37, 38 and 39. 



Seed Analysis. A number of states have laws authorizing 

 the employment of such seed experts to examine samples of seeds 

 for prospective planters and also for dealers. Laboratories are 

 established either at State Experiment Stations or State Depart- 

 ments of Agriculture for the analysis of seed samples. The work of 

 such laboratories is chiefly along the following lines: 



1. Examination for impurities by means of microscopes, sieves, 

 fanning devices (Fig. 40), and scales. 

 44 



