24 
Adulteration of Seeds. 
lectly free IVom buriiet, it is l)ut just the seed-j^rowers should be 
made responsible ; for I believe, if proper care be taken, it is 
(juitc j)()ssiblc to weed out tlie burnet in the growing crop, and 
thus a perfectly clean sample may be obtained. But if sainfoin 
and burnet are allowed to ripen togc'tlicr, it is imjiossible to 
entirely separate one seed from the other by any machinery the 
seedsman has at his command. The Rromus sterilis, when found 
to a large extent, renders the sample almost valueless. Milled 
sainfoin, or sainfoin-seed, separated from the husk, may be made 
perfectly free from every spurious seed, with perhaps the excep- 
tion ol burnet. It vegetates more readily upon the removal of 
the outer husk, but tlie purchaser has here also to guard against 
mixtures of old seed and the risk of the vegetative power of the 
seed having been injured in the milling process by careless or 
inexperienced hands, 
Tuiiisip, Rape-seed, &c. 
It is a well-known fact that these seeds, as well as all others 
belonging to the class from which oil may be extracted, preserve 
their vitality for a number of years, if well harvested and after- 
terwards stored in a dry warehouse. The chief means of adul- 
teration here employed is the admixture of from 20 to 30 per 
cent, of dead seed, either dead from age or killed by baking, or 
some other process into the mystery of which I have never been 
initiated. 
Dead turnip-seed readily finds a market for purposes of 
adulteration, and small rape-seed being generally at about one- 
third the price of swede-seed is in demand for mixing with that 
article, the rape first undergoing a process to destroy its vitality. 
Seed is also dressed up with a preparation of vegetable oil to 
improve its appearance, but this I think commendable rather 
than otherwise (if not done to make old seed pass for new), as it 
preserves and improves the vegetative power of the seed by 
returning to it the oil which it naturally loses in keeping. 
Mangold-seed 
will also, if well kept, preserve its vegetative powers for a series 
of years, and old seeds are used for mixing off and thus 
reducing the price of genuine lots. Mangold-seed is often much 
injured by mice, which eat out the seed, leaving the outer covering 
or husk. 
As in the case of the turnip, the only means of detecting 
adulteration by an admixture of dead seed is a trial of growth, — 
a test which applies to all other descriptions of seeds. Seeds that 
grow quickly, such as clover, turnip, mustard, &c., may be made 
