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X. Annual Report of the Consulting Botanist for 1883. By 
^y. CAEnUTHECS, F.R.S. 
During the past year my work for members of the Society 
has very greatly increased. Five hundred and eight samples 
of seeds have been submitted to me for examination, and many 
applications have been mnde to me in reference to the nature 
and habits of weeds, and the best means of dealing with them : 
to the attacks of parasitic fungi on different crops ; and to 
matters affecting the life of plants. 
I have, during the year, supplied information to many seeds- 
men, believing that it was very important to give help wherever 
a real effort was being made to secure and supply the best and 
purest seeds. On the other hand I have uniformly declined to 
supply to seedsmen reports that might be used in the sale of 
seeds, for this, among other reasons, that it is impossible so to 
control a vendor as to secure that a report shall be used only 
for the parcel of seed that had been examined. The unau- 
thorised use, by some seedsmen, in the interests of their trade, 
of reports which had been obtained from members of the 
Society, to whom I had supplied them, has been stopped by the 
Council. 
I have examined eighty-five samples of meadow fescue and 
tall fescue. I include them both under the same head ; for, 
with the exception of three or four cases, all the samples sold 
as tall fescue were really meadow fescue {Festuca jiratensis. 
Linn.). Twenty-six per cent, of the samples were free from 
weeds and seeds of other grasses ; thirty-one per cent, had 
three-quarters or more of the seed true ; twenty-seven per cent, 
were not so good, but had more than half of the seed true ; 
while sixteen per cent, were still more impure. The chief seed 
used for adulteration is rye-grass. Whatever opinion may 
be entertained of the value of this grass in pastures, it is ob- 
viously undesirable to buy rye-grass as meadow fescue, and pay 
at least three times its own market price for it. But that this is 
<lone to a very great extent is obvious from the following facts. 
Only twenty-nine per cent, of the samples were free from rye- 
grass ; in thirty-seven per cent, there was less than a quarter of 
the seeds rye-grass ; in twenty-two per cent, there was more 
than a quarter and less than a half; and in twelve per cent, 
more than half of the seeds were rye-grass. More than half of 
the samples (sixty-two per cent.) were above the standard of ger- 
mination recommended by the Council, and of the remainder, 
twenty-nine per cent, germinated more than half, while eleven 
per cent, germinated little more than a quarter. When 
