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ADVERTISEMENTS. 



SIPGRTANT TO LUCERNE GROWERS, 



LUCERNE SEED. 



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Every description of seed the farmer buys is liable to certain impurities 

 of various kinds and in varying proportions. Even when the greatest care 

 has been taken in harvesting arid dressing the seed, absolute purity cannot 

 be guaranteed ; and if this is the case when scrupulous care is exercised, it 

 needs no great stretch of imagination to picture what the result will be when 

 no special pains are taken to protect the seed from contamination or to free 

 it from imparities already present. Generally speaking, the smaller the seed 

 the more susceptiblo it is to adulteration, intentional or accidental. Grass, 

 clover an. I turnip seed, for instance, are more likelv to contain i;..p cities 

 than the larger ocreils, although defective germinating power is a> probable 

 in the one case as in the other. SD many varieties of the smaller seeds 

 resemble each other in size, shape and colour that detection of adulteration 

 is difficult, even to experts it may be impossible to the naked eye -and this 

 similarity provides the careless and unscrupulous with opportunities for 

 profiting by indifference on the part of buyers. No description of seed appa- 

 rentlv is more subject to imperfections in purity and fertility than that of 

 lucerne. This, at all events, is the case as regards the America!) supply, and, 

 as a crop is grown extensively in the United States, and is, in fact, one of th 

 O.5 $ : most important crops of that country, it may be concluded that the same 

 Ory necessity for thorough investigation of the seed purchased exists n his 

 >>ES country. Lucerne is not grown on so large a scale in Great Britain as ir, 

 - .2 ought or is likely in future to be, but limitation of the area does not warrant 

 c "w indifference as to the character of the seed sown, and hence, in the light of 

 j2 American evidence, concerning the risk incurred in the selection of seed, it 

 o ~ 3 is imperative taat every pound of lucerne seed bought should ba tested as to 



to* I purity and germinating power. 



C <5 -2 ] Lucerne seed, in addition to being similar in appearance to many other 

 !P ^ o ; i^orts, is expensive, and the high price it commands may be regard = 

 ed as an extra incentive to trade negligence as to its purity. The 

 loss arising from the impurity of the seed supply has been so great in the 

 United States that the Agricultural Department at Washington and several 

 of the experimental stations deemed it advisable to en rry out systematic 

 investigations, and the result is some startling revel nl ions. The Washington 

 authorities, for instance, found in one pound of ^.ux-nie seed, bought pro- 

 miscuously, 32,420 noxious weed seeds ; in an tlur 23.082 : and in a third 

 21,848. Of the first-named sample less than 5$ per ierit was lucerne, less 

 than 29 per cent, was germinable, and among its irnpuritieswere 5,490 seeds 

 of parasitic dodder Another of the samples contained only a fraction over 

 5 per eeiit. that would grow, while in a third the fertile lucerne seeds con- 

 stituted only slightly over 6 per cent, of the whole. The results of the 

 experiment stations were not quite so startling ; but at the Ohio Station it 

 was found that a pound of one lot of so-called lucerne seed contained 18,144 

 lambs' quarter or pigsweed seeds, and a similar quantity of another sample 

 j included G,4-JO seeds of crab-grass and 3,325 seeds of foxtail. The serious- 

 ness of the.-e impurities may be gathered when it is mentioned that seed 

 whrch was bought at 32s. 6d. per bushel actually cost 53s. when the foreign 

 seeds and worthless material were removed. Supposing that the samples 

 ! referred to had been sown as they arrived on the farm as doubtless they 

 I were in many cah:es -disappointing results were inevitable Not only would 

 I there be a poor crop of lucerne, but the land would be stocked with objec- 

 j tionable arid tenacious weeds which it would take years of incessant labour 

 to eradicate. The mischief that results from sowing impure seeds of any 

 description, therefore is riot restricted to a deficient yield of the crop intend- 

 ed, but the foundation is laid for tedious and expensive weeding in subse- 

 quent years. The danger incurred in the purchase of seeds emphasizes the 

 importance of procuring the supplies from reputable sources. 



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Gingell, Ayiiff 



Commerce Street, PORT ELIZABETH, 



