SEED AGE 



apparatus witli the open side opposite to liim and to- 

 ward the light. The mirror should be so arranged that 

 it will not throw any light into the operator's face. 

 With this apparatus the outlines of grass seeds within 

 the glumes can be ck;irly seen, and the ehaff can be 

 removed with the otht r iinimriii- - <'\' Hh -.miple. 



A much simpler niitlnMl d nl. m il \ mu the sound 

 seeds in grasses eonsi^i^ in tin \i-i-..( .1 liiin- of glas.s, 

 over the surface of wlu.h iln- ^1 , ,1. i li..r,.imlily wet, has 

 been thinly spread. This glass i» licld up to the light, 

 and with the forceps the good seed may be easily picked 

 out. It would be well for the purchaser of grass seed, 



especially of meadow fox-tail, awnless brome and vel- 

 vet grass, to make use of this simple test. For labora- 

 tory purposes the mirror box is to be greatly preferred, 

 since the seed can be handled much better when dry. 



Testing Beet Seed. — Special methods are also re- 

 quired for testing red and sugar beet "balls," each of 

 which contains from 1 to 7 seeds. Three separate lots 

 of 100 balls each ar.- ■!. .1. .1 v' i.!i -i ■ :ii -,.,,..,- t^ 

 represent average ^n ' 



between the hands, - - 11. 1 1 . 



blotting paper or s.-mu ,ii ,1 . -n- 1 n.i j' 



C, for 18 hours out ..1 J4. il.,- I. ~i "1 : ■■ ' 1. 



In .3, 5, 8 anJ 11 days the balls are .>: V n- 

 ever 1, 2. or 3 seeds have sprouted ill ;i ■> ■ t 1 ,i!n\- 

 are carefully cut out with a knife, .ni.! ' ■•( 



the ball is removed to a s.-cond se.-.l K. .1. ' in- 

 hered to correspond witli the immli. r nf tli, -.■. il - « h j.-h 



have germinated in tir- I. nils ]il ■.! tlin-rin. .\i the 



next examination tin- -pri.uird x,r,ls ar,. a-ain <-ut out 

 and the clusters ri-iiiovt-d to anntln-r Ited, numlxr'-d to 

 agree with the total number of seeds per ball which 

 have sprouted. The test is closed on the 14th day. 

 when the sum of all the germinating seed of each lot of 

 100 clusters, together with the number of unsprouted 

 seeds, is ascertained. The average of all the clusters is 

 taken into account, especial care being exercised not to 

 count as seeds any cavities which were empty at the 

 beginning of the test. 



Test for Genuineness or "Puriti/" of Slock. -The 

 genuineness of the seeds of vegetables and other horti- 

 cultural varieties of plants can only be told by means 

 of a field test, which should be ntade in such cases 

 whenever possible. The purity of stock of such seeds 

 is of far more importance than a high percentage of 

 purity and germination. In making field tests of differ- 

 ent varieties of seed a check test should be conducted, 

 using a sample, for purposes of comparison, which is 

 known to be authentic. The different tests must be 

 subjected to the same conditions of soil, etc. The gen- 

 uineness of the seed of grass, clovers, and other forage 

 plants can usually be ascertained by mere inspection 

 and comparison with a standard collection. 



Gilbert H. Hicks. 



[The preceding article was prepared for this work by 

 the late Gilbert H. Hicks, of Washington, D. C, in 1899, 

 while in charge of pure seed investigations for the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture. It is printed practically 

 as it was written. The subsequent changes in the De- 

 partment methods are given below by Mr. Hicks' suc- 

 cessor. L. H. B.] 



Thr I. .ii I . . .i ■■ I .r r.. -.;..-., --I'nl -nnuina- 



tionni' . ...:■..:-■,■. ,1. Let- 



tuce nil: I ... I I ng best 



results. \ „ I _'.,-.:. I . , :.; , entirely 



inhibit. t;t-ruuiiat,..ii. ^.■,..l.s i.t ti-n.siiiii,., uu ihe other 

 hand, demand liO" C, while vine seeds give best results 

 under a temperature alteriuiting between 20 and 30° C. 

 A constant temperature at 20° C. is seldom used. Seeds 

 naturally i.reriniiiate under conditions of constantly 

 chaimin- I- nil" I 11 III-.- and favorable natural conditions 

 shout. i I . . I as nearly as possible in the lab- 



oratm Is ll I Mm- grass seed is not tested in the 

 greeiilniii -I . in ii. r r.sults being obtained in the cham- 

 ber by means of alternating temperature. When seeds, 

 as of sugar beet, are sold on a guarantee, the re-test 

 should be made under conditions similar to those under 

 which the original test was made. The energy of ger- 

 mination, that is, the percentage of seeds that sprout in 

 about one-fourth the full time, nearly represents what 

 the seed will do in the field and is of greater importance 

 than the full time test. a_ j_ Pieteks. 



The Seed Trade of America,.- Harlij ffistory. -The 



lii-tni\ ni Tin- seed business in colonial times is largely 

 nnr ni iiniinrtatiou from Holland and England, when 

 small hucksters carried a few boxes of popular seeds 

 with an assortment of dry goods, foodstuffs or hardware. 

 Corn, barley, peas, onions, fruits and vegetables, nec- 

 essaries in fact for direct use, first claimed the atten- 

 tion of the colonists. Towards the end of the eighteenth 

 century we berin to tind rnf.rnivr.s to the saving of 

 stock seeds, and in tin n.iv nm.rs ,,f the day are a 

 number of adv.rii-, m. 1 . ' m ' ■ ;- rs who dealt in 

 seeds. Agricnllnial -. . : .n: nlc of commerce 



as early as 1747 ( I'iit.i ,1., .1 iinniis, beans, peas, 

 carrots, cabbage and cmliflowii, etc , being raised for 

 seed in the colonies at that time, though chiefly im- 

 ported. At that time Boston did most of the business. 



rj«-- 



Among the earliest advertisers of seeds for sale were 

 Nathaniel Bird, 1763, a book dealer of Newport, R. I.; 

 Gideon Welles, "on the Point," 1764; Samuel Deall, a 

 dealer of general mendiandise in New York in 1776; 

 William Davidson of New York in 1768. while in Phila- 

 delphia, in 1772, we find one Pelatiah Webster advertis- 

 ing clover and duck grass seed; .James Loughead 

 "colly- flower" seed in 1775; while David Reid kept a 

 general assortment in the same year. 



Development of American Trade. — It was not until the 

 opening of the nineteenth centurythat America began to 

 find that seeds could be grown here as profitably as they 

 could be imported. Grant Thorburn, in New York, and 



