222 AGRICULTURE 



that varies greatly in the seed of different 

 species, some, like cereals, turnips, swedes, 

 and clover, usually germinating within a 

 fraction of 100 per cent., while others, such 

 as the smaller grass seeds, frequently fail to 

 germinate over 80 per cent. Other things 

 being equal, seed of high germinating power 

 is usually cheapest, because a less quantity 

 is required, and the resulting plants are 

 usually stronger and more vigorous. A 

 sample of seed of low germinative capacity 

 is usually in this condition either because it 

 is immature that is to say, is insufficiently 

 ripened or because it is old that is to say, 

 not of the immediately preceding crop 

 or because it has " heated " in the stack, 

 or at some other stage of its history. One 

 will always find in the case of a poor sample, 

 that many of the seeds that germinate 

 produce plants so feeble as to be unable to 

 survive the first few weeks, or it may be days, 

 of the conditions that they meet with on 

 an ordinary farm or garden. It is evident, 

 therefore, that a laboratory test, conducted 

 as it is under conditions specially favourable 

 to germination, and stopping at the point 

 where sprouting occurs, supplies figures that 

 unduly favour poor seed. 



The " Real Value " of a sample of seed is 



