1912. 



PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 



103 



More seed separation is apparently being done at this station 

 than at any other, and tliis work is eonstantly increasing. The 

 advantages to be derived from seed sei)aration are not fnlly 

 appreciated as yet. Onion and tobacco growers, we believe, are 

 realizing these advantages more fully year by year, and this is 

 true of some lettuce and celery growers, but much more use 

 could be made of the practice by market gardeners. Seed sep- 

 aration results in better seed, more perfect germination and 

 much more uniform and larger plants, which in seedbeds saves 

 space and a great deal of labor in selecting uniform seedlings. 



The selection from strains is also being made much of in the 

 growing of corn and other crops, but market gardeners and 

 farmers are by no means making use of all the opportunities in 

 any of these directions. 



Table II. — Becords of Seed Separation, 1911. 



Kind of Seed. 



Number 



of 

 Samples. 



Weight 

 (Pounds). 



Per Cent, of 



Seed 



retained. 



Per Cent, of 



Seed 



discarded. 



Onion, 

 Tobacco, 

 Lettuce, 

 Celery, 

 Total, 



6,206.210 



85.820 



27.720 



.926 



135 



6,320.676 



72 1 

 86.3 

 83.6 

 84.8 



27,9 

 13.7 

 16.4 

 15.2 



The percentage of onion seed discarded runs higher than 

 usual, a fact due, apparently, to the relatively larger number of 

 small seeds present than usual. 



A summary of the seed work carried on at the station for a 

 period of twelve years is shown in Table III. Previous to 1890 

 little seed testing and separation were done here, and no syste- 

 matic records were kept of the work. Table III. gives a reca- 

 pitulation of the work done in seed germination, purity testing 

 and seed separation since 1899. 



