Adulteration of Seeds. 
25 
to genniniito upon diunp llaniiol or blottln<»--pai)CM-, })laco(l in a 
sufficiently high temperature ; but this process will not answer 
for slow-growing seeds, or those having a thick husk. The best 
plan is to grow samples in a pot under circumstances of soil, 
moisture, and temperature resembling as nearly as may be those 
to which t\\c crop is subjected in the field. Even then a single 
trial is far from being an infallible test of the germinating power 
of seeds, and, if the first trial is unsatisfactory, I should always 
advise that it be repeated. Mr. Charles Appelius, an extensive 
seedsman at Erfurt, supplies the following information as to the 
germination of seeds. 
" If rye-grass be sown in soil which retains moisture with 
average tenacity, and buried 1 inch below the surface, 7-8ths of 
the seed grows in 12 days ; if buried 2 inches 7-8ths also grow, 
but only in 18 days ; if 3 inches, 6-8ths in 20 days ; if 4 inches, 
4-8ths germinate in 21 days ; at 5 inches, 3-8ths in 22 days ; 
and at 6 inches the proportion of seeds which germinates is 
reduced to l-8th in 23 days. 
"On the other hand, when rye-grass is sown and simply har- 
rowed in, it germinates in 5 days. 
" Our common agricultural plants may be thus classified, 
according to the length of time required for the germination of 
good seeds, at a temperature of 54° to 64°, in a finely-pulverised 
soil, with a moderate supply of moisture. 
F • 4 to 7 da 's -1 t^ii'niP; rape, Imckwlieat, peas, flax, 
lom 0 / cajs .. .. rj^'-grass, lujiine, lentil. 
{Wheat, barley, oats, maize, beans, chicory, 
some kinds of peas, clover, tares, timothy- 
grass. 
i Carrots, parsnips, burnet, sainfoin, parsley, 
oat- grass, meadow-grass, brome- grass, 
mangold. 
If circumstances are at all unfavourable, the time required for 
the vegetation of the seeds named in the last section is increased 
from 14 to 20 days." 
Careless or accidental Abulteration by the Grower. 
Although this can hardly be called adulteration, yet as the 
results are equally injurious to the buyer, and as it may be 
an equally dishonest and dishonourable action, I shall briefly 
refer to it ; and I shall quote some of the remarks made by 
Mr. Buckman in his interesting Prize Essay on Agricultural 
Seeds, Royal Agricultural Society's Journal, vol. xvi. p. 359, and 
his articles on Agricultural Seeds, as printed in the ' Gardener's 
Chronicle ' of 1859, referring the reader to these papers for more 
minute particulars. 
