1906.] 



White and Alsike Clover Seed. 



II 



port is comparatively high, the sample as a whole may be of 



third or fourth rate quality, one-third or one-half the purchase 



may be absolutely rubbish or, what is worse, living weed seeds, 



as it is the pure and apparently good seeds only that are tested. 



The combined test of purity as well as germination is the only 



key or guide to the real cultural worth of any sample ; thus 



Purity X Gerinination . . , . , , 1 



=real value, or the pure P"ermmable seeds 



100 ^ ^ 



in the sample. 



The enterprising farmer who has his seeds tested and analysed 

 before sowing may reasonably demand the maximum of infor- 

 mation on the certificate of purity he receives from the analyst. 

 The purity of any sample is always calculated and entered on 

 the certificate as percentage by weight ; this should have coupled 

 with it the name and number of different weed seeds found in 

 a given quantity, say i gram or i ounce. 



It seems scarcely credible that a Sdmple of white clover 

 recently examined by the waiter, though apparently good and 

 having a purity of 97 per cent, by weight, contained when the 

 weed seeds — sorrel, geranium and chickweed — were counted 5,300 

 weeds in one ounce, and that one pound contained the amazing 

 total of 84,800 weeds, yet the sample was comparatively pure by 

 weight. On the other hand, it is not at all unusual to find 

 samples containing five times the amount of impurity by weight 

 and yet not one-hundredth part the number of weeds enumerated 

 above. The impurities present may in the main be harmless 

 mechanical impurities, such as soil, vegetable debris, &c., or 

 they may be living weed seeds, the latter, of course, being by 

 far the more objectionable. 



Apart from the use of comparatively worthless low quality 

 seed, white clover is rarely or ever adulterated, perhaps with 

 the exception that, when the seed is scarce and prices rule high, 

 an admixture of suckling clover is sometimes used, and, unless 

 the sample is closely scrutinized, it is not readily seen, as the 

 seeds are similar in colour. When examined, however, under a 

 low-power lens, the difference between the seeds is easily recog- 

 nised, the seed of suckling clover being somewhat cylindrical in 

 shape and very shiny (see Fig. 2), while the white clover is 

 heart-shaped. 



