28 
Adulteration of Seeds. 
most of his uccd-pcsts Avitli his seed. " In the case of the clover- 
crop," he remarks, " each weed-seed sown subtracts from the sum 
of the ch)ver-seed. Nor is this all the evil, as very many of the 
weeds grow so fast as to smotlier and kill (or, at least, so much 
weakens that winter kills) much of the clover in their vicinity ; 
and lastly, many weeds seed the first year, and are succeeded in 
the next by an immense increase. These are circumstances which 
will in a great measure account for much of tlie so-called clover- 
si('kness of the soil." 
With a few remarks on the modes of avoiding and detecting 
the adulteration of seeds, I shall conclude. 
I have mentioned the seed-dealer as a medium between the 
buyer and seller or grower. He is rather more than this : he is 
a guarantee to the buyer that the seeds he supplies are good, free 
Irom seeds of weeds, and answering to the description. He 
secures the buyer, when the latter is not very conversant in the 
article, from the frauds in quality and price to which he might 
be subject in pui'chasing promiscuously, and gives his advice as 
to seeds suitable to various soils and seasons. Therefore it is 
obvious that the buyer's chief and best precautions are, — 1st. To 
select a responsible and respectable seedsman, and not to seek 
goods at the lowest price and of the lowest value ; if he does this, 
a seedsman can no doubt supply a cheap article, but can he 
recommend it ? 2nd. To purchase seed with a warranty that 
a certain percentage of the seed will vegetate ; the warranty to 
cover the value of the seed, or more if necessary. 3rd. To try a 
certain number of seeds, both in a hot-bed and in the open 
ground, and see what proportion vegetates : the first plan speedily 
shewing the actual number of living seeds, the second what 
number Avould probably grow under open-air culture. 4th. To 
examine seeds himself with a microscope, that he may detect the 
percentage of weed-adulterations ; the microscope, carefully used, 
would probably detect not only this but the new or old, doctored 
or mixed nature of seeds — a single glass is sometimes used now, 
but a microscope of tolerably high power would be far more 
efficacious. 5th. To note that the adulteration of rye-grass by 
admixture, however carefully done, may be detected easily when 
one seed* is lighter than the other; the winnowing-machine will 
separate each according to their respective gravities. 6th. To 
get good genuine samples of similar seed, with a view to a com- 
parison with that purchased both by the eye and by floating the 
two in water as a test of comparative gravity. 7th. Since, how- 
ever simjjle these modes are, many persons will be too much 
engaged to try them, and will buy seed just before sowing and 
put it in the ground with merely a cursory examination, why 
should we not adopt the practice of taking a sample for examina- 
