310 Annual Report for 1908 of the Consulting Botanist. 
separated from the clover on the right side. The various 
elements in the mixture are : — 
1. Red Clover {Trifolium pratense Linn.). 
2. Vegetable fragments and earthy matter. 
3. Knot-weed {Polygonum aviculare Linn.). 
4. Dock {Rumex crispus Linn.). 
5. Suckling Clover {Trifolium minus Linn.). 
6. Chicory {Cichorium Intyhus Linn.). 
7. Wild Parsley {Petroselinum segetum Koch). 
8. Cut-leaved Cranesbill {Geranium dissectum Linn.). 
9. Common Dodder {Cuscuta Trifolii Bab.). 
10. Foreign Dodder {Cuscuta suaveolens Seringe). 
11. Henfoot ( Torilis nodosa Goertn). 
12. Field Madder {Sherardia arvensis Linn.). 
13. Rib Grass {Plantago lanceolata Linn.). 
Most of these impurities may be removed by sifting 
machines, others by submitting them to air blasts, so that from 
even the impurest specimen by careful treatment a good and 
useful sample may be procured. 
A member of the Society sent a sample of red clover seed 
to test for germination. It grew only 21 per cent. The 
member proposed to return the seed but the vendor refused to 
receive it and sued the member for payment. The Consulting 
Botanist, at the request of the member, sent his Assistant, who 
had made the tests, to give evidence in the case, with the result 
that the Judge found that the seed should be returned to the 
vendor. 
The question of the usefulness of so called “ hard seeds ” 
has been raised by some members. “Hard” seeds, i.e. hard 
coated seeds, constantly occur in all leguminous seeds. When a 
quantity of any seed of this Order is soaked in water for twenty- 
four hours all normal seeds absorb the water and swell, while 
the hard coated seeds remain unaltered. In the ordinary 
course of growth the swollen seeds germinate first, the hard 
seeds do so only after some time, it may be months or even 
years. Hard seeds cannot be recognised in a sample, they 
must be soaked, when their detection is, as has been said, quite 
easy. In consequence of their late germination hard seeds may 
be of some value in a permanent pasture, where their time of 
germination is of less value, but in clover lays the hard seeds 
are of little value. They are for the lay practically dead seeds. 
Hard seeds are always present in white clover, often as many 
as 20 per cent. In red clover they often reach 5 per cent., in 
trefoil about 8 per cent., in Alsike 3 per cent., and Lucerne 
2 per cent. 
