664 



FARM ' SEEDS ' : SPECIAL 



Fig. 2oS. — Seed of Sweet 

 Vernal-Grass, 



from the back of each springs a twisted awn. One of the 

 awns is larger than the other and bent 

 (Fig. 208). The caryopsis is brown, 

 shining, and unfurrowed. 



Purity. — Pure samples are very rare, 

 those usually met with being more or less 

 mixed with the useless allied annual 

 grass, Antlwxanthuin Puelii Lecoq and 

 Lam. The latter has darker coloured 

 glumes, with pale, light fawn-coloured 

 hair, which gives a lighter appearance 

 to the sample when seen in bulk ; true 

 Sweet Vernal-Grass being considerably 

 V darker. The awns of A. 



Puelii are also longer and 

 more slender, and the hair 

 not so silky as in the true seed. 



Germination Capacity and Weight. — M'hen 



ripe the caryopses or fruits fall out of the glumes 



^\lth the greatest ease ; even with careful handling 



_ // a great many are lost. The germination capacity 



I W// of commercial samples is therefore usually very 



ll low. The best samples have a germination capa- 



i H city of 70 to 75 per cent., but those witli 50 per 



\\^ cent, of seeds capable of germination may be 



■^ passed as good. The weight of 1000 seeds should 



\f^ be from -5 to '6 gram., the bushel-weight being 



14 or 15 lbs. 



Meadow Foxtail (Alopcciirus prate usis L.) 

 (Fig. 209). 



Fig. 2o9.-Seed uf FORM> SiZE, AND COLOUR. — The ' SCcds ' 



Meadow Foxtail, consist of flattened one-flowered spikelets, the 

 empty glumes of which are fringed along the keel with long 

 silky hairs and united to each other by their edges from a 



