170 Maine: agricui^turai, e;xperiment station. 1909. 



may be pernicious. For example, — clover seed frequently 

 carries plantain seed. If this plantain seed is the door-yard 

 variety which is present practically all over Maine, there would 

 be comparatively little harm from using clover seed which con- 

 tained it. On the other hand — lanced leaved plantain or rib , 

 grass is not abundant in Maine. It is an undesirable plant and 

 using seed carrying it might introduce a weed into land which is 

 at present free from it. It is important that the farmer should 

 know the vitality as well as the purity of the seed that he is to 

 use. No matter how pure a seed may be, if half of it will not 

 sprout it has no more value than if the seed were half chaff. 



While it is not easy to make an exact purity test, it is not 

 difficult for a farmer to so acquaint himself with the seeds that 

 he is ordinarily using that by the help of an ordinary reading 

 or magnifying glass he will be able to tell whether the seed in 

 question contains any considerable amount of impurities. If 

 the seed is spread out upon a white plate, a little practice will 

 enable a farmer to see whether a given seed is reasonably pure 

 or not, and he will soon learn to detect the more common 

 foreign seeds. 



Vitality of Seeds. 



It is much easier for the farmer to test the vitality of seed 

 than to make a purity examination. The following simple 

 instructions for performing germination tests at home without 

 any special apparatus will enable the farmer to learn for himself 

 whether the seed that he is using has good vitality or not. 

 Germination tests may be made in two ways, — the so-called 

 blotting paper methods, and the sand method. In making the 

 germination test with blotting paper, blue blotting paper of 

 common weight, cut into strips about 6 x 19 inches, should be 

 used. This is laid folded twice so as to get a piece of three 

 thicknesses and about six inches square, on an ordinary dinner 

 plate or platter. The seeds if small are placed on the top of the 

 paper and if large between the folds. The paper is kept moist 

 (not soaked) and at a temperature of 70 to 8o degrees F. 



If only a vitality test is desired the blotting paper method is 

 preferable, but if it is desired to know how many seeds may be 

 expected to grow, the sand method is in some ways preferable. 

 In this method a thin layer of fine sand is sprinkled on the 



