SEED TESTS. 



Made September 1, 1915, to September 1, 1916. 



The provisions of the Pure Seed Law enacted by the General 

 Court in 1909, require the publication annually of a bulletin 

 showing the results of all seed tests made officially during the 

 previous year. The administration of this law is in the hands 

 of the State Commissioner of Agriculture, who has appointed 

 the writer, Agronomist of the Experiment Station, as his regu- 

 lar agent for making all tests and analyses in this state. 



During the year ending September 1, 1916, eighty-four 

 samples of seed were vountarily sent in for analysis. An au- 

 thorized representative of the department collected an addi- 

 tional eighty-four, making a total of 168 samples submitted for 

 anah'sis during the year. 



The samples sent in by the official collector were secured 

 from twenty-three dealers in twenty different towns, represent- 

 ing each of the ten counties of the state. These samples in- 

 cluded 2 of alfalfa, 4 of alsike clover, 8 of red clover, 8 of mam- 

 moth clover, 2 of white clover, 2 of barle}', 7 of corn, 11 of mil- 

 let, 4 of oats, 10 of redtop, 25 of timothy and 6 of miscellaneous 

 seeds. 



The samples sent in voluntarily were from seed dealers, farm- 

 ers and county agents. Since we have no knowledge that- 

 these samples represented seeds which were being offered for 

 sale, but were simply sent in for a report which might be used 

 as a* basis of purchase, we considered the results of private 

 rather than of public interest and hence have not published 

 them. 



In the testing and analyzing of seeds, just as in the chemical 

 analysis of fertilizers, there are certain factors which make 

 exact duplication of results impossible. There are always 

 slight variations in drawing a sample of seed, in sampling the 

 sample, in weighing small fractional parts of it, in the count- 

 ing and identification of numerous seeds, etc. ; there may be 

 also fluctuations in the temperature and humidity of the germ- 

 inating chamber which may affect the percentage of germina- 

 tion. Methods of analysis may also vary somewhat. For 

 these reasons a slight variation from the guarantee or standard, 

 or from a previous analysis, should not be considered of con- 

 sequence. 



In publishing the results of this year's official samples we 

 have made use of a table of "tolerance of variation" for pur- 

 ity which has been prepared by one of the leading seed labora- 



l 

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