REDTOP 



175 



The recleaning of the seed and its separation into 

 grades is done by factories with special cleaning ma- 

 chines. 



The annual yield in Illinois has been estimated as 

 700,000 pounds from 50,000 acres. 



173. Seed. Commercial seed of redtop occurs in 

 three grades: 1. " Fancy," " choice " or " recleaned " ; 

 2. "Unhulled"; and 3. "Chaff" seed. " Recleaned " 

 seed consists of free grains 

 and those covered with the 

 inner silvery chaff. " Urir 

 hulled " seed is that which 

 is still inclosed in the outer 

 glumes. " Chaff " is mainly 

 the empty scales and fine 

 rubbish, with but a small 

 percentage of good seed. 



Recleaned or fancy seed 

 should have a purity of 95- 

 98 per cent, and a similar FlG - 16. Chaff of redtop ped. 



,. . i . -, . , a, whole spikelets usually devoid of 



percentage of viability. seed in " chaffy " srades; b> sepa . 

 The germination remains rated s f ales of the same; a and b 



-, f i r , represent the outer chaff of the seed. 



good for several years. It (Enlarged.) 

 is sometimes adulterated 



with timothy seed. Among the common weed seeds pres- 

 ent as impurities are oxeye daisy and buckhorn. 



The legal weight to the bushel is 14 pounds, but the 

 actual weight ranges from 12 to 40 pounds. The number 

 of seeds to one pound varies with the quality. Thus, it is 

 given as 4,135,900 by the Illinois Experiment Station; 

 6,400,000 by the North Carolina Experiment Station; 

 and 7,800,000 by Hunt, quoting from Lawson. Stebler 

 gives the number as 603,000, evidently an error. 



