972 



Report on the Treatment of Seeds. 



[JAN., 



assuming the usual rate of seeding of about 2 to 3 bush, per 

 acre. On this basis there is no great risk in adopting the 

 treatment, but, on the other hand, if it does no good the money 

 is lost. 



Up to the present agricultural experts have not been par- 

 ticularly enthusiastic about the treatment, because samples of 

 seed tested at colleges and experimental stations have in the 

 main proved no better than untreated seed. Similar results 

 have been obtained by certain farmers who have taken the 

 trouble to weigh up their produce. This failure to obtain 

 positive results is explained by the late Dr. Mercier, a well- 

 known believer in the process, in the following way : — 



" This was in the early days of the process, when the proper 

 conditions were only guessed at, and when failures were 

 frequent ; and the particular experiments in question were 

 failures. They either showed an actual loss, or no gain, or a 

 gain so small as to be within the normal margin of error. In 

 the Hght of subsequent experience it is now known that, with 

 seed treated as these samples were treated, no benefit could be 

 expected." (" ]\Ianual of the Electro-chemical Treatment of 

 Seeds," 1919, p. 85.) 



On the other hand, other farmers claim to have obtained 

 satisfactory results, and in certain cases where the weighings 

 were carried out by one of the assistants from the University 

 College, Reading, there were considerable differences between 

 crops grown from treated and from untreated seeds respectively. 



The Technical Committee of the Food Production Department, 

 therefore, decided to make such tests as were .possible in a 

 Hmited time to ascertain what measure of success a farmer 

 might hope for if he had his seeds treated before sowing. 



The solution is first prepared in the tank in the proportion of about 5 gal. 

 to I bush, of grain, sufficient well to cover the grain, which should be 

 occasionally turned over during treatment. Oats need 5^ gal. 



After the solution has been made ready in the tank, the grain is placed 

 therein and submitted to an electric current of 8 watts per gal, of solution 

 (400 watts for 50 gal., i.e., 2 amperes at 200 volts, or 4 amperes at 100 volts, 

 and so on.) 



When large quantities of grain are required to be treated at one time/ 

 several tanks are connected in series, and with increased voltage the same 

 electric current will pass through the whole series. 



After the treatment is completed the solution is run off and the grain 

 removed from the tanks, and dried at a temperature of from 90 deg. 

 to 100 deg. F. After the moisture has been driven out of the grain, it 

 still remains in a swollen condition, for which due allowance must be made in 

 drilling, otherwise a smaller quantity will be sown per acre than of the corres- 

 ponding untreated grain. 



In soil deficient in lime a solution of 5 per cent, calcium chloride (8 oz. 

 to the gal.) may be used instead of a solution of household salt. 



