February 8, 1913. 
THE GARDENERS’ MAGAZINE. 
97 
Harking back to seed grain, it is a 
matter of immense importance that any 
vestige of fungoid disease or injurious 
germs shall be detected, and this involves 
that the water is practically dried up, but 
any germs or spores are left adhering to 
the glass, and are then detected by the 
aid of magnifying glasses. Needless to 
determine the proportion of sugar in a 
beet, and the feeding value of a mangold 
or a swede, the object, of course, being to 
ensure selection of the most valuable to be 
POLLINATING PRIMULAS. 
extreme care. It is not sufficient even to 
examine through a powerful microscope, 
for, in some cases, the mycelium or the 
germ is the same colour as the outer skin 
of the grain. The most interesting method 
say, samples upon which deleterious 
germs are found are discarded as unsatis¬ 
factory for seed. Other apparatus exist 
for ascertaining the quality of roots, such 
as sugar beet, mangolds, or swedes. One 
retained for producing next year’s crop of 
seed. 
The Trial Grounds. 
The greater part of the work of selection 
and proving of quality must, of necessity. 
« SKisiuied ® 
g^asstube ^ funnel 
“ apparatus,■ 
A FIELD TRIAL OF ASTERS. 
machine cuts out a cube from the centre of 
the root. This cube is placed in a com¬ 
bined still and oven, which first evaporates 
and then distils all the water from the 
pulp. It is then possible by analysis to 
be done in a more natural way by growing 
under natural conditions, and the reader 
may now with advantage be taken to the 
trial grounds, which are another important 
feature of a seed grower’s or merchant’s 
