Commercial 
seed. 
Impurities. 
Adulterations. b 
Seed-quality. 
Amounts to be 
sown, 
24 
Commercial seed is usually obtained from Scotland and England, where rye-grass is” 
extensivly cultivated. Glasgow and London merchants buy the seed, reclean and assort it. 
The cleanings consist, in the main, of Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus, L.), soft brome 
(Bromus mollis, L.), and Festuca bromoides, L. The seed is assorted according to weight 
per bushel, purity, and germinating power. 
lities of perennial rye-grass which on analysis gave the following results : 
I. quality. II. quality. II. quality. 
Purity 96.9 °/o 91.4 °/o 82.6 °/o 
Germination . vce as so Ba" A. 
Pure and germinating seed eit ir oy 48.3 ,, 28.1 ,, 
Price per cwt. shillings ; 22 /- 2()/- 12/6 
Price of pure and germinating seed per cwt. 31/- 41/6 4/6 
¢€ 
Fig. 
Soft brome. 
Bromus mollis L. 
a. False fruit, natural 
size $ 
. Same enlarged, seen 
from the dorsal sur- 
face. 
c. Same enlarged, seen 
from the ventral 
surface. 
d. Caryopsis enlarged 
(after Nobbe). 
fraud is readily 
fig. 5). 
A comparison of the prices of pure and germinating seed in 
these samples shows that quality IV is more than 7 times as dear 
as quality I, although the cost of the commercial seed is only one 
third. 
Since the best qualities have usually the heaviest 
weight per bushel, this is usually taken as a gauge of the 
value. For example 30 lb., 28 lb. and 24 Ib. rye-grasses 
are spoken of; this means that a bushel weighs 30, 28 or 
24 lbs. 
As already mentioned soft brome (fig. 18.) Yorkshire 
fog (fig. 14) and Pestuca bromoides are frequent impurities, 
Ribgrass (Plantago lanceolata, .), Dbuttercups (Ranuwn- 
culus acris and repens), sorrel (Rumea acetosella, L.), and 
Similar weeds, are also very common. 
This seed is very rarely adulterated because it is so 
cheap. At times soft brome is sold as Lolimm perenne but 
this fraud is very readily detected, as the seed of the 
brome is quite different from that of the rye-grass; on the 
other hand, perennial rye-grass is often mixed with dearer 
grass seeds, and more especially with meadow-fescue. This 
A Glasgow firm for example, offered four qua- 
IV. quality. 
32.5 Jo 
10, ee 
Bud 55 
7/6 
227/- 
Fig. 14. 
Yorkshire fog. 
FHolcus lanatus, L. 
a. False-fruit (spike- 
lets), natural size. 
b. Thesame, enlarged. 
ce. The spikelet with- 
out the glumes, 
(after Nobbe). 
detected when a sample of the seed is examined by an ordinary lens. 
The »stalk« of the rye-grass is quite flat, broad at the top, and narrow at the base (see 
Seed and amounts to be sown. Analyses of more than 250 samples of seeds of this 
orass show an 
seed should have 95 °/o purity and 75 °/o germination. 
average purity of 94 °/o, and a germination of 70 °%o. 
Good commercial 
1 Ib. of pure seed contains, on an 
average, 336,800 grains; larger and heavier seed contains only 182,000, while some com- 
mercial samples contain about half a million grains. 
For sowing, 
heavy 
seed should of 
course be preferred. ‘The weight per bushel is as variable as the number of seeds per Ib. 
The heaviest seed weighs about 30 Ibs. per bushel, while poorer qualities weigh scarcely 
half as much. 
Seas 7 - Pee ea o : tare me, ¥ : 
One acre of ground requires 55 Ibs. of seed containing 71 %o pure and germinating 
== 38'/2 lbs. of pure and germinating seed. 
