SEED TESTS 



Made July 1, 1911, to December 1, 1912. 



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 j^ear. The ad- 

 ministration of said law is in the hands of the secretary of the 

 State Board of Agriculture, who has appointed the writer, 

 agronomist of the experiment station, as his regular agent for 

 making all tests and analyses in this state. 



During the year only fifty-five samples of seed were exam- 

 ined as against seventy-eight for the year preceding and two 

 hundred and thirty-eight for the year preceding that. This 

 very small number of tests for as much seed as is sold in the 

 state indicates one of three conditions: (1) That the seed deal- 

 ers are buying their seeds from outside parties upon a purity 

 and germination test guarantee; (2) that the dealers are mak- 

 ing their own tests and basing their guarantees upon them; 

 or (3) that the farmers are buying seeds without any guaran- 

 tee of their purity and vitality. 



Of the few samples tested the analytic agent has no knowl- 

 edge 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, therefore, be understood that all of the 

 seeds represented by the samples inspected were offered for 

 sale by the parties for whom the inspection was made. 



The writer wishes to acknowledge his aj^preciation of the 

 efficient work of Professor Frank App, who made the tests and 

 examinations of the samples herewith reported. 



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