Purchasers can now make sure of buying Good Seed. 159 



been stopped. A perusal of the annual reports of the consulting 

 botanist to the Eoyal Agricultural Society of England will show 

 that this is stiU too common. But with ordinary care on the part 

 of the buyer, there is now no difficulty in procuring pure seeds." 

 Mr. Hunter then gives the following extract from his price-list, 

 which offers an easy and safe method of obtaining good seeds : — 



" To enable purchasers to have their seeds analysed and tested 

 before the time of sowing, any seeds required will be delivered 

 carriage free to the purchaser, so that samples for analysis may 

 be taken from the hulks while they are in the possession of the 

 buyer. This method is more satisfactory than that of testing a 

 sample received from the seed merchant before purchasing, as it 

 excludes aU doubt about the identity of the seed analysed. In the 

 event of any kind of seed not fulfilling, in every particular, the 

 guarantee of purity, genuineness, or per centage of germination 

 stated in this catalogue, such seed may be refused, and returned 

 at the expense of the seller, who wUl also in such a case pay the 

 consulting botanist's fee." 



With such a system at the command of the purchaser, it is 

 now his own &ult if he does not put down good seed. 



Mr. Hunter deprecates the use of such a large quantity of 

 clover seed as is commonly sown with grass seeds. He says that 

 it has been customary to sow about 9 lbs. of clover, and a farmer 

 in Scotland who has laid down much land to grass tells me that 

 12 lbs. to 14 lbs. are often sown. Mr, Hunter advises 5 lbs. of 

 the best seed, and says that equally good results will be obtained 

 as from sowing a larger quantity. I generally use 5 lbs. and 

 find this ample ; and, on showing a field of temporary grass sown 

 with that quantity to a number of farmers, they could hardly 

 believe that so little seed had been used. 



As regards Sinclair's estimate of the number of seeds in a 

 lb., Mr. Hunter observes that his figures cannot now be accepted, 

 as better seeds are now available. "The number of seeds," 

 writes Mr. Hunter, " in a lb. depends on the quality of the sample. 

 Light undressed seed will give twice or three times the number 

 of seeds to the lb. that perfectly-dressed heavy seed wDl 

 do. To insure accuracy in this matter, I had all the seeds in my 

 table carefully counted, using only samples of heaviest weight 

 and purest quality, and my figures are now generally adopted." 



