4 N. IT. EXPERIMKXT STATION. 



law seem unreasonable? If we help the purchaser to 

 know what kind of seed he requires, the interests of 

 the dealer who wishes to sell a desirable and satisfac- 

 tory mixture of good seeds are jeopardized if this 

 provision of the law is not observed. To ask that such 

 mixtures be properly labeled in accordance with the 

 provision of the law or kept off the market appeals to 

 us as being entirely justifiable. We shall insist on 

 the observation of this requirement. 



A few samples of seed with an abnormal amount 

 of "hard seeds" were found and reported this year. 

 Certain seeds among the legumes have very hard im- 

 pervious seed coats and will not germinate in any 

 reasonable length of time. In some cases they may 

 live over in the ground a year or more before absorbing 

 moisture enough to sprout. Just when such seed will 

 start to grow is very uncertain. And its value to the 

 farmer is questionable as a consequence. In the lab- 

 oratory, they never germinate. Such seed we indicate 

 as "hard seeds." Some plants like sweet clover (Meli- 

 lotus) normally produce such a high percentage of hard 

 seeds that special machinery has been devised for 

 scarifying (scratching) the seed coats so they will ad- 

 mit water and allow the germ to develop. Nearly all 

 legumes produce occasional hard seeds and most of the 

 small legumes like the clovers and alfalfas normally 

 evidence an appreciable percentage. A few samples 

 this year showed an exceptionally large number of 

 such seeds. One white clover was reported, for ex- 

 ample, with more than half hard seeds. Surely, dealers 

 should exercise some care not to get such seed. If 

 similar samples persist in appearing, we should prob- 

 ably amend our law or its rules to make the reporting 

 of the percentage of hard seeds present a requirement 

 of the guarantee. 



The desirability of using native small legume seed 

 rather than imported has been pretty well demon- 



