52 



FARM AND GARDEN SEEDS 



Improving Poor Lots of Seed. Field seeds which are ob- 

 tained in larger quantities than garden seeds may be improved by 

 recleaning. If upon examination, as during a testing, a lot of seed 

 is found to contain weed seeds, chaff, dirt or other impurities the 

 whole lot may be greatly improved by cleaning and recleaning 

 (Fig. 40). 



The principles involved in the cleaning of corn, grass and other 

 field seeds are: 



1. Seeds vary in size and may be separated by running them 



FIG 42 Chief seed districts for grass and forage market seeds produced in the United 



States. (U. S. D. A.) 



through sieves of different sized mesh. Corn cockle weed seed 

 may be separated from wheat by the use of a sieve which is just 

 fine enough to prevent the wheat from going through and coarse 

 enough to allow the weed seeds to pass through. Seeds or other 

 material coarser than wheat are separated by sieves which are just 

 large enough to allow the smaller ones to pass through. The seeds 

 of dodder may be separated from alfalfa by using a sieve with 

 nineteen or twenty meshes to the inch. 



2. Some seeds are lighter than others, and may be separated 

 by the use of fans or any other way, using a strong breeze to blow 



