SEED CONTROL. 67 



alloAviiig 100 per cent germination for the hair grass and su.p- 

 posing it to be of any value to the fanner. Of this loss nearly 

 sixty dollars was, in all probability, the result of deliberate fraud 

 npon the part of the Europeandealers, and reprehensible careless- 

 ness, to say the least, in the case of the American seedsman. 



Kentucky blue grass showed but 10 per cent germinating 

 power instead of at least 60 per cent, which is a fair standard 

 for this seed. Only one per cent of a sample of Texas blue 

 grass (^Poa arachnifevd) germinated. This grass, like the other 

 Poas, usually shows a low germination, but in the case mentioned 

 the sample was entirely worthless, since when sown in soil not a 

 seed came up. Texas blue grass sells for three dollars a pound 

 in small quantities, or two hundred and fifty dollars by the 

 hundred. Out of four hundred seeds of Bermuda grass but one 

 germinated, or one-fourth of one per cent. Although this grass 

 rarely matures seed in the North, and is generally reproduced 

 by its rootstocks, nevertheless good seed should show a ger- 

 mination of from 40 to 50 per cent, especially in view of the fact 

 that seedsmen ask $1.50 per pound for it whether it comes up 

 or not. 



Orchard grass showed a germination of 31.8 per cent in 

 blotters and 24 per cent in soil, as against 70 to 80 per cent, 

 the proper standard. Tall meadow oat grass contained 36.3 per 

 cent impurity, 70 per cent of which consisted of inferior grass 

 seeds and weed seeds, the balance being chaff and dirt. Of the 

 64 per cent of pure seed 60 per cent germinated, or a little more 

 than one-third of the entire sample. 



Awnless brome should show a purity and germination per 

 cent of 90 or 81 per cent intrinsic value. Five hundred pounds 

 of this seed Avere purchased at regular wholesale prices and a 

 sample submitted to us for test. It showed a purity of 80.8 

 and 55.5 per cent germination, being an actual value of 44.8, or 

 a little over one-half that of the standard, a money loss of over 

 forty dollars. This does not take into account the farmer's 

 waste of time and labor, besides the injury to his land from 

 sowing the inferior grass and weed seeds of which the impurities 

 consisted. 



Italian rye grass tested at the Iowa Experiment Station con- 

 tained 41 per cent of English rye grass, an inferior plant. This 

 set^d comes from Ei;rope and is very often adulterated in this 



