Adulteration of Seeds. 
15 
between tlio {grower ;iiul tlic rainier who ie(|uiio.s scmmIs, his 
agency, fairly conducted, has no secrets to conceal Ironi the 
public. 
It is, however, of <jreat importance to the fair (l(;aler that at- 
tem})ts at imposition sliould be detected and exposed, because 
whilst such devices jjrosper it is impossible lor him to compete 
in prices with the trickster. 
It is of still more importance to the agricultural public that 
they should recognise the two following truths : — 
1st, That goods offered below the current market-price must, 
as a rule, be either of inferior stock, damaged, or adulterated, 
because one seed-dealer has no peculiar advantages over another 
in purchasing in the open market. 
2nd. That it is literally " penny wise and pound foolish " for 
a grower to purchase such seeds, as the penny gained in price 
must be followed by the loss of a pound in the crop. 
Although adulteration has much to answer for, it must not be 
made responsible for all the defect of vegetative power exhibited 
in the samples of agricultural seeds sold in our markets. Much 
is due to other causes, which in this essay we are not called upon 
to describe, but may briefly enumerate. Seeds may be badly 
ripened, or spoilt by bad weather in harvesting ; they are some- 
times cut before they are fully developed, and often harvested in 
a damp condition, of which heating in tlie stack is a natural con- 
sequence. Again, weeds are allowed to produce and ripen their 
seeds with those of the crops ; and from carelessness in the field, 
stack, and barn different varieties of the same kind of seed become 
mixed together. In short, as much or even more care is required 
to distinguish good from bad seed, when coming direct from the 
grower, as from the shop of the seed-doctor. The articles sup- 
plied by the latter always have a suspicious unnatural appearance 
which the practised eye detects at once ; for this reason adultera- 
tion seldom escapes notice amongst experienced seed-growers 
and honest dealers, through whose hands genuine seed is con- 
stantly passing. In districts where seeds are not grown to any 
considerable extent (in Ireland especially), amongst sm.all farmers 
and small retailers of seeds who make that trade an adjunct to 
the grocery or provision store, the seed-doctor has done a most 
thriving trade, underselling the honest dealei", and driving him 
out of the market. 
Clover Seeds. 
Old seeds are brushed and rubbed up by machinery, their 
appearance further improved by some colouring matter to give 
the purple hue, and then mixed off with fine new seed. These 
