6 
Mr.  William  Carruthers. 
was  no  doubt  due,  to  some  extent,  to  carrying  over  seeds  from 
year  to  year  until  they  were  dead.  Experiments  were  made 
with  the  view  of  determining  the  limit  of  the  vitality  of  seeds  ; 
and  to  determine  this  with  greater  accuracy  samples  of  thirty-five 
difCerent  kinds  of  farm  seeds  harvested  in  189.5  were  obtained 
from  trustworthy  sources.  These  have  been  tested  year  after 
year.  The  progress  of  the  experiment  has  been  exhibited  on  a 
large  diagram  at  the  annual  shows  of  the  Society  in  recent 
years.  The  only  seeds  that  germinated  this  year  were  those  of 
a black  Tartarian  oat.  The  coming  spring  will  probably  finish 
the  trials.  A report  will  then  be  submitted  to  the  Committee. 
Purity  and  Germination. 
In  1882,  after  considering  the  state  of  the  seed  market, 
the  Committee  published  a recommendation  that  members  of 
the  Society  should  obtain  a guarantee  that  seeds  purchased 
contained  less  that  5 per  cent,  of  impurities,  and  that  the 
different  kinds  possessed  a specified  minimum  germination. 
What  was  sold  as  foxtail,  was,  as  a rule,  collected  before  the 
seed  had  been  formed,  and  consisted  of  nothing  more  than 
empty  chaff.  The  Committee  could  not  at  that  time  fix  for 
this  grass  a higher  minimum  than  20  per  cent.  For  cereals, 
green  crops,  clovers,  and  timothy  90  per  cent,  was  fixed,  and 
for  the  other  grasses  70  per  cent. 
Improvement  op  Seeds. 
This  step  had  a remarkable  effect  in  improving  the  quality 
of  seeds.  In  the  following  year,  1883,  two  leading  firms, 
influenced  by  the  action  of  the  Society,  offered  in  their  cata- 
logues seeds  guaranteed  both  as  to  purity  and  germination. 
Through  their  efforts  to  improve  the  quality  of  their  seeds  they 
were  then  able  to  offer,  at  ordinary  market  prices,  seeds  of 
foxtail  germinating  60  and  70  per  cent.,  and  other  grasses  of 
much  higher  quality  than  the  Committee  suggested.  Other 
seed  merchants  followed,  so  that  the  guaranteeing  of  seeds  is 
now  nearly  universal  in  the  leading  firms.  His  Majesty’s 
Office  of  Works  gave  a great  impetus  to  this  effort  for  securing 
good  seeds  by  scheduling  the  quality  required  in  seeds  for 
laying  down  pastures  in  the  Royal  Parks,  and  offering  a 
proportional  increase  in  price  for  higher  germination  than 
that  scheduled.  This  was  done  on  the  advice  of  the 
Botanist  of  the  Society,  whose  report  on  the  seeds  governed 
the  purchase  and  the  price  paid.  This  method  has  in  later 
years  been  adopted  by  the  London  Asylums  Committee  for 
their  fields,  lawns,  and  kitchen  gardens,  and  also  by  several 
members  of  the  Society.  The  change  for  the  benefit  of  the 
farmer  resulting  directly  from  this  work  of  the  Society  will  be 
