I906.J 



Sainfoin Seed. 



153 



photographs, yet, owing to both being wrinkled and of the same 

 colour, unless the sample is very closely scrutinized the burnet 

 seeds may be readily overlooked. 



The best way of insuring a practically pure seed— and, conse- 

 quently, if other things are equal, a clean crop — is to purchase 

 milled seed only, for, by the milling process, and the removal of 

 the pod, should yield only the plump kidney-shaped seed as 

 shown in Fig. 2. The burnet, if present, will be at once seen, 

 as it cannot be milled, the only result of the milling being the 

 bruised and broken-winged appendages of the seed. Milled 

 seed can, as a rule, be purchased practically pure, and the un- 



FiG. 5. — Burnet : A Common Impurity in Sainfoin, 

 (Magnified four diameters). 



milled, or seed in the pod (though invariably containing Brouius- 

 mollis and a certain amount of mechanical impurities) can 

 always be obtained haying a purity of at least 98 per cent. 



Owing to the sainfoin seed ripening somewhat irregularly, and 

 the difficultyexperienced in removing immature seeds without in- 

 ordinate waste, the germination, when in the pod, is comparatively 

 low, but there is no difficulty whatever in obtaining seeds show- 

 ing a vitality varying from 75 to 85 per cent., and in milled 

 seed 90 per cent, and over. 



D. FiNLAYSCN. 



