Mr. Hunter's Paper. 147 



APPENDIX I. 



PAPER CONTRIBUTED BY MR. JAMES HUNTER, 

 Agricultttral Seed Merchant, Chester. 



Grass seeds of the various kinds commonly used for 

 lajdng down to grass, . greatly differ from each other in 

 their appearance, size, weight, &c., and the quality of 

 the seeds usually offered for sale varies to an extent far 

 beyond what would be imagined. The necessity, there- 

 fore, for a Standard of Quality, by which the ordinary 

 user of these seeds may, with a fair degree of certainty, 

 judge the quality of the seeds he buys, is obvious. On 

 page 151, such a Standard, applicable to the seeds of all 

 the grasses, clovers, and other plants used in laying 

 down land to grass, either for long or for short periods, 

 is given. 



In the first column of figures in the table will be 

 found the percentage of germination that seed of any 

 given species, of the highest quality, harvested in good 

 condition in an average year, should possess. This 

 Standard, it will be understood, is a high one ; but it 

 can be attained without real difficulty, and users of seeds 

 should not be content with anything inferior. It should 

 never be forgotten that seed of the highest germination 

 is always the cheapest, and that the highest germinating 

 seed is also almost certain to be the purest, so that true 

 economy can only be attained by using the very best 

 seeds. It must be obvious that the higher the per- 

 centage of germination of any seed, the greater its 

 money value. One pound of seed germinating 90 per 

 cent, will produce as many' plants as, and of m"ore 

 vigorous growth than, 1^ lbs. of seed whose germination 



K 2 



