68 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



way. At the same station a pound of orchard grass was found 

 to contain over fourteen hundred seeds of sheep sorrel, besides 

 considerable ergot. Over one-half the bulk of a lot of fiorin 

 (Af/rostis alba) costing forty-two cents a pound was chaff, and 

 over one-third its weight consisted of chaff and sand. All of the 

 grasses enumerated were sold as good seed, at the regular market 

 price, by prominent American seedsmen. 



A test of orchard grass made at the Connecticut Experiment 

 Station a few years ago furnishes a striking example of the need 

 of seed control in this country. Seventeen samples, obtained 

 from regular dealers, were examined. One of them contained no 

 orchard grass at all, but consisted entirely of perennial rye grass, 

 which is very unlike orchard grass, from which it is easily 

 separated. This is an evident case of fraud upon the part of some 

 one, since perennial rye grass is much inferior to orchard grass 

 and costs considerably less a pound. Five other samples con- 

 tained, on the average, but 25 per cent of orchard grass seed, 

 and of the entire lot only 40 per cent germinated, or less than 

 one-half the standard amount, while in one case the vitality was 

 only 4^ per cent. 



The following are the results of some germination tests made 

 by American experiment stations : Eecltop 4 per cent, beach 

 grass 2 per cent, meadow foxtail 2 per cent, sweet vernal 5 per 

 cent, tall meadow oat grass 2 per cent, yellow oat grass 2 per* 

 cent, soft chess 2 per cent, crested dog's tail 9 per cent, orchard 

 grass 10 per cent, hard fescue 3 per cent, various-leaved fescue 

 3 per cent, meadow fescue 6 j)er cent, red fescue 8 per cent, 

 slender fescue 3 per cent, Italian rye grass 4 per cent, English 

 rye grass 12 per cent, reed canary grass 6 per cent, Canada 

 blue grass 11 per cent, wood meadow grass per cent, fowl 

 meadow grass 3 per cent, rough stalked meadow grass 2 per 

 cent. 



In the following instances not a single seed sprouted : meadow 

 brome, Schrader's brome, sheep fescue, velvet grass, timothy, 

 water meadow grass, and Kentucky blue grass. We do not knOAV 

 under what conditions these tests were made, and have inten- 

 tionally selected the minimum results for purposes of illustration, 

 but they certainly afford abundance of argument for the need of 

 seed control in America. The mere fact that such seeds were 

 offered for sale in this country without the purchaser's knowledge 



