CHAPTER V 

 BUYING PASTURE SEEDS 



Necessity for Caution. — That good seed is absolutely essential for 

 success is not even yet so generally recognised by agriculturists as it should 

 be ; for no matter how much time, labour and money be expended in pre- 

 paring the land, if the seed contain a considerable proportion of weeds or 

 •even useless grasses, or if it fail to germinate freely, the resulting crop will be 

 proportionately poor and unprofitable, and it may even become necessary to 

 incur the expense of thoroughly cleaning and re-sowing the land. Every 

 seeding is exposed to sufficient hazards from climatic extremes, insects, 

 fungous diseases and other injurious influences more or less beyond human 

 control, without being wilfully exposed to such serious and totally unnecessary 

 risks as the employment of inferior seeds. 



Mixed Pasture Seeds. — In Germany and elsewhere waste tracts of 

 land are utilised to produce crops of seeds, which are harvested all together, 

 regardless of species ; and for these samples, though consisting principally of 

 Wavy mountain hair-grass (Aira flexuosd), Yorkshire Fog {Holcus lanatus), 

 Italian and Perennial rye-grasses, Soft brome-grass [Bromus mollis), &c., 

 buyers can always be found. Unscrupulous seedsmen, too, make a practice 

 of preparing pasture mixtures containing only the cheapest and least valuable 

 species ; and it is no unusual occurrence for the very cleanings from various 

 agricultural seeds to be added to mixtures for grass-lands. Such sowings 

 cannot possibly yield good, but may produce most injurious results. Now, 

 when it is considered that extended experience and, we would add, a special 

 training are required to justly estimate the value of a mixture of seeds, it is 

 apparent that agriculturists incur great risks by purchasing ready-mixed 

 pasture seeds, excepting from honourable firms, possessing very considerable 

 botanical and technical skill. 



Buying Seeds Separately. — It is comparatively a simple matter to 

 determine approximately the worth of seeds if examined separately ; and when 

 the proportions desired are purchased thus, samples can always be subjected 

 to expert analysis, so that we strongly urge the advisability of buying only 

 unmixed seeds. 



Guarantees. — With every species of pasture-seed, guarantees of purity 

 and germination should be required, that is to say, the seed merchant ought 

 always to specify the exact percentages of pure or true and of germinating 

 seeds in each parcel ; and the buyer must see that these percentages approxi- 

 mate to those mentioned in columns 2 and 3 of Table L, page 39, as being 

 the averages for good commercial qualities. 



