Annual Report for 1908 of the Consulting Botanist. 311 
Sundry agricultural seeds like cereals, root crops, kale, 
rape, chicory, burnet, sainfoin, yarrow and various vegetable 
seeds have been examined and on the whole proved satisfactory. 
Timothy and bentgrass samples contained nearly in every 
case traces of ergot grains. Attention is more generally paid to 
ergot by farmers when it is noticed in the crop, but when 
present in seed it does not seem to be considered of much 
importance by merchants and buyers alike. When noticed by 
the purchaser it is usually said to be only the dung of insects. 
Bearing in mind that the ergot grain is the resting stage of 
the fungus, which in the spring produces fruiting bodies, the 
spores from which may attack any kind of grass, it is easy 
to prevent the appearance of this dangerous fungus by refusing 
any grass in which it is found. 
Seeds have again been examined for His Majesty’s Office of 
Works for use in the royal parks, for the Asylums Office of the 
London County Council and other public bodies. 
Duration of Vitality in Farm Seeds. 
A diagram illustrating investigation on this point was 
brought up to date and again displayed in the Education Section 
at the Newcastle Show ; and several inquiries have been made 
regarding its use. As some of the seeds under investigation 
still germinate, it is not at present proposed to publish results 
in detail. After testing forty-three kinds of farm seeds for 
thirteen seasons, it may just be mentioned that this year two 
kinds of oats grew about 25 per cent., a few varieties show 
feeble signs of life, and that the great majority are dead. If, 
as is probable, next year sees the completion of the experiment, 
the matter will be treated on in extenso. 
Dodder Seeds in Seed Mixtures for Permanent 
Pastures or Temporary Lays. 
Experiments have been carried out with the view of 
ascertaining the danger from dodder seeds present in clover 
or in ready-made seed mixtures for laying down pastimes, and 
some interesting facts have been collected. 
From badly infested samples of red clover, dodder seeds 
of the two kinds — the larger foreign and the native — have 
been separated and sown with various seeds used in agricul- 
ture. The plants used were red clover, white clover, alsike, 
trefoil, lucerne, timothy, rye-grass, cocksfoot, rape, and kale. 
In every instance the seeds of the crop came up before the 
seed of the dodder, and both kinds of dodder attached them- 
selves to these very different plants. While the various clovers 
were more or less rapidly destroyed, little damage was done 
to the cruciferous plants like rape and kale, and practically 
none was done to the grasses. The dodder grew, flowered, 
