Flaxseed Screenings. 15 



danger of spreading weeds through seeds in feeding stuffs. 



In the milling of wheat for flour practically all weed seed are 

 removed before the wheat passes to the rolls, and if weed seeds are 

 found in the bran, shorts, or middlings, they must have been added 

 subsequently. Whether this practice can be justified depends on 

 the nature of the screenings added, and the thoroughness with which 

 they are ground. 



Experiments have shown that weed seeds may grow after they 

 have passed through the digestive canal of domestic animals. In an 

 experiment at the Maryland Experiment Station (Bulletin 128), 

 twenty-two kinds of seeds were fed to animals and the manure spread 

 over sterile soil. It was found that only one kind of seed, Spanish 

 needles {Bidens bipinnata L.) failed to germinate. Docks, ragweed, 

 purple cockle, tumbling mustard and peppergrass, were all capable 

 of germination. 



The following is from Bulletin 168 of the Maryland Station: 

 "A cow and horse were each fed two pounds of the unground grain 

 screenings with middlings, bran, and wheat straw, each morning and 

 night for seven days. On the evening of the seventh day they were 

 bedded with sawdust and the dung of one night collected. The saw- 

 dust and dung were thoroughly mixed and put in boxes and set on 

 a bench in the greenhouse. The dung was collected on May 24. 

 On June 21, the following weeds had grown: — 



Cow Dung. Horse Dung. 



149 Lamb's quarters. 1213 Lamb's quarters. 



12 Pigweed. 28 Foxtail. 



14 Bindweed. 11 Pigweed. 



4 Foxtail. 12 Bindweed. 



2 Timothy. 6 Timothy. 



3 Clover. 

 2 Morning glory. 

 5 Mustard. 



It has further been demonstrated that weed seeds are able to 

 retain their vitality for a period of several years when buried in the 

 soil, and so it cannot be doubted that the use of feeding stuffs contain- 

 ing live weed seeds may lead to a serious spread of noxious weeds. 



Flaxseed Screenings. 



In terminal elevators the screenings from flaxseed are usually 

 mixed with those from wheat, oats, and barley to form a part of the 

 ordinary grain screenings of commerce. A -composite sample was, 

 however, taken from a lot of several tons of fine flax screenings which 

 had come through the lower sieve (one-fourteenth inch perforated 

 zinc screen) of an ordinary flax cleaner in a Fort Williaiii elevator. 

 Following is the analysis: flax and broken flax, 14 per cent; lamb's 

 quarters, 42-5 per cent; mustards, 5-25 per cent (tumbling mustard,. 



