Harvesting 
the seed. 
Yield, 
Impurities. 
Adulterations. 
Seed quality. 
76 
According to older analyses, the composition of the hay is: — 
Way. Scheven and Ritthausen. Collier. 
is Il. 
Nitrogenous matter . . . 89 °/o 9A %o 10.0 °/o 6.4 %/o 
Fibre 9; ak ae 35.4 /o 24.0 Jo 19.4 Jo 
Non-nitrogenous extractives 37.0 °/o 34.9 %/o 45.0 °/o 51.3 Jo 
Fate < Sco peop Fe IPaerneero 2.5 %/o 2.5 °/o 4.2 fo 
The nutritive value is thus seen to be somewhat less than that of hay of medium quality. 
Harvesting, Impurities and Adulteration of seed. Commercial seed comes, for the most 
part, from N. America. A small quantity is obtained in Europe from wild plants; its 
growth for seed will scarcely pay. When a seed-crop is grown it should be cut before 
all the seeds are ripe, to prevent loss. Mowing should begin when the panicles are turning 
brown, and the spikelets are becoming clustered together. Those seeds which are not yet 
ripe mature during drying. After threshing, the seed should not be packed immediately, 
but spread out in thin layers on the ground; if packed, the temperature rises and this 
causes the germinating power to diminish. As already explained, the long woolly hairs 
cause the seeds to become massed together in small clumps; this renders sowing very 
difficult. Before sowing, in order to allow the seed to be properly distributed over the 
ground, the hairs should be removed. This is done either by rubbing with the hand or 
with suitable rubbing and threshing machines follo- 
wed by the winnowers; the cleaned seeds are then 
sifted off. If, as is usual, all the hairs are not 
removed at first, the operation is repeated. In this 
way seed of good appearance and free from woolly 
hairs is obtained and this fetches the highest price 
in the market. 
The yield of seed is about 220—440 lbs. per 
acre. . 
rhpioeehace: In commerce. seed from which the woolly 
Aira cespitosa, L. : J 
a. False fruit (seed) natu- hairs have not been removed is frequently met with. 
ral size ; : qsys . ad 
b. ventral surface s In this condition, it forms clumpy masses ; by the 
c. side-view X 8. inexperienced, the woolly hairs are taken for fungi 
and the seed is looked upon as mouldy, Although apparently low- 
priced, such seed should not be purchased ; its real value is much less 
than that of cleaned seed, as the hair and chaff removed in cleaning 
amounts to 20—40 °/o of the whole. ‘Fig. a 
Uncleaned seed is frequently adulterated with this valueless hair Silky bent grass, 
} : ( Apera spica-venti, P. B. 
and chaff, and if such seed be bought, one pays money for a deal of False fruit (seed) with 
utterly worthless material. Tufted hair-grass (fig. 33) is often used as | err 
an adulterant; it is readily detected. Silky bent grass (fig. 34) is rarely 0. ventral surface X 7. 
used; it is less objectionable than the former because it is only an ag 
annual, 
Seed and Amount to be sown. The average purity, determined from numerous ana- 
lyses, is 84.1 °/o: the germinating power in the light, taking the average of 101 analyses, is 
A8 fo. Good and well-cleaned seed should have 95 °/o purity, and 50 °/o germination = 
47.5 0/° of pure and germinating seed. 
