434 
Clover-Seed and its Impurities. 
Seeing so much merit, I asked him why he had not competed 
before ; and his reply was that, as soon as he heard of the system, 
he determined to work for a prize. The influence it has had in 
stimulating him may he understood, when I state that in 187 G 
the cows were expelled from the dwelling, and a suitable byre 
fitted up for them ; that a good chimney was put into the house ; 
and that a wall was built cutting off the manure-heap from the 
front of the door. 
Since the foregoing statement was sent to press I have learned, 
with great satisfaction, that the Irish Peasantry Society have 
expressed a desire to continue the Spencer Prize System. 
Their subscription could possibly be made the nucleus of a 
lund for carrying out the system on a comprehensive plan. 
Unless I am much mistaken, a large number of the gentry, 
clergy, and other classes would gladly co-operate in promoting a 
system so eminently calculated to advance the material interests 
of the country. 
XXI. — Clover Seed and its Impurities. By WlLLlAM Cae- 
RUTHEES, F.R.S., Consulting Botanist to the Society. 
The legislation of 1869 included one bill of great value to 
the agriculturist. Mr. Welby's Seed Bill, passed in that year, 
made criminal the wilful and fraudulent practice of preparing 
seed, that was previously in operation to the ruin of the farmer's 
crops. As an immediate result, the manufactories that were 
known to exist for the purpose of " doctoring " seeds were closed, 
and it is a fact that killed and dyed seeds have almost if not 
altogether disappeared. Only two suspicious cases have come 
within my observation during the past five years, but in them 
the evidence of intentional adulteration on the part of the 
vendors was not complete. The action taken in relation to 
both these cases led, I believe, the parties implicated to observe 
greater care in regard to the character of the seed they have 
since offered for sale. 
Mr. Welby's bill did not attempt to regulate the seed-trade 
in all its details, as, indeed, would have been impossible ; so 
that even now, although not to the same extent as formerly, 
the agriculturist who does not grow his own seed is at the 
mercy of the dealer. Killed and dyed seeds are gone, but dead 
seeds may still be there, viz., seeds that have been carried over 
from former years, and that have, from natural causes, lost their 
power of germination, as well as seeds of the previous harvest 
that have not been fully ripened, or that have been injured in 
the process of harvesting. 
