2S 
Adulteration of Seeds. 
Of casual adulteration, or rather admixture, the saving seed 
from dodder-infected clover, referred to a few pages back, is an 
example, as is also that of taking seed from exceedingly foul rye- 
sjrass. Of this last practice Mr. Buckman very properly observes 
(vol. xvii. p. 53G of this Journal), " A dishonest farmer has a 
crop of seeds which may be very foul, especially with a preva- 
lence of lop (brome) grass. In this case he knows it will not 
only be a short but a poor crop of hay and grass. He therefore 
seeds it, and the lop and the rye grass thus become inseparable, 
and the supci'ior weight of the former makes up a tolerable 
Avelght of seed, which, even if sold at a reduced price because it 
it is not of the best quality, pays better than any other mode of 
dealing' with the crop ; and thus as long as men are rogues 
enough to seed foul patches and others are so foolish as to buy the 
cheapened produce, so long will this be a source of weeds. Yet, 
so far as clean farming is concerned, we cannot consider this 
title to be deserved, unless as well as destroying weeds it also 
provides against sowing them." 
A very just remark; but it must be observed, that a farmer 
who studies to keep his land clean is generally equally desirous 
to obtain pure and good seeds. It is the careless farmer who 
throws foul inferior seeds into foul land, and then wonders at tlae 
quantity of weeds ; his neglect in not keeping the laud clean 
hindering him from noticing that the rubbish he sows adds to 
the foulness of his land. 
Another fraud — for it deserves no better name — is sometimes 
practised by the growers of turnip, mangold, and carrot seed. 
Generally these are, and ought always to be, grown from roots of 
one variety, selected for their shape, carefully transplanted and 
cultivated ; so that the seed is free from any foreign admixture, 
whilst the stock or variety is gradually improving. But this is, 
when properly conducted, an expensive process, and the con- 
scientious grower cannot compete in price with the man who 
sows a coarse, hardy kind broadcast on his stubbles, leaves them 
to flower in the next summer, and then harvests, in a slovenly 
manner, a mixture of charlock, rape, and turnip seed. Moreover, 
as varieties are improved, the quantity of seed which they yield 
decreases, such improvement consisting in an enlargement of the 
bulb and a diminution of the leaf and stalk : a farther reason why 
the grov/er of improved varieties can never compete in price, but 
may be a loser even when charging double the price at which the 
careless grower makes his large profit. 
Foreign Seed 
is probably more adulterated by admixture than our own, 
because the growers are more careless in allowing weeds in their 
