SEED TESTS. 



Made July 1, 1910, to July 1, 1911. 



The provisions of the Pure Seed Law enacted by the General 

 Court in 1909 require the publication annually of a bulletin by 

 the New Hampshire Experiment Station of the results of all seed 

 tests made officially during the previous year. The administration 

 of said law is in the hands of the secretary of the State Board of 

 Agriculture, who has appointed the writer, agronomist of the ex- 

 periment station, as his regular agent for making all tests and 

 analyses in this state. 



During the year only seventy-two samples of seed were examined 

 as against two hundred and thirty-eight samples for the year pre- 

 ceding. This very small number of tests for as much seed as is 

 sold in the state indicates one of three conditions: (1) that the 

 seedsmen and seed dealers are buying their seeds from outside 

 parties upon a purity and germination test guarantee; (2) that the 

 seedsmen and dealers are making their own tests and basing their 

 guarantees upon them; or (3) that the farmers are buying seeds 

 without any guarantee of their purity and vitality. 



Of the few samples tested the analytic agent has no knowledge 

 that seeds which these samples represented were offered for sale 

 in the state. Quite frequently samples are sent in for inspection 

 by dealers before purchase in lot or bulk is made, and if the test 

 shows the seeds to be of inferior quality it is presumed the seeds 

 are not purchased. Individuals sometimes ask for a report upon 

 the quality of a given sample and make the purchase of seed for 

 their own use upon the basis of said report. It should not, there- 

 fore, be understood that all of the seeds represented by the samples 

 inspected were offered for sale by the parties for whom the in- 

 spection was made. 



The writer acknowledges his appreciation of the work of Pro- 

 fessor W. L. Slate, Jr., who made the tests and examinations of the 

 samples herewith reported. 



