17 
This table shows the amount and proportion of the different kinds of nutritive substances required 
by our domestic animals.*) 
Impurities and Adulterations of Seed. Adulterants are foreign bodies, artificially mixed with 
a seed for purposes of gain; impurities, on the other hand, are ingredients which occur accidentally. 
Dodder and Pimpernel are, for example, impurities and not adulterants, because they are not inten- 
tionally added to the seed. If coloured stones occurred, they would constitute adulterations. 
Quality of Seed. The quality of seed is in general determined by the purity. the germi- 
nating power. the size of the seed, and the weight per bushel. The higher the purity, germination 
and weight per bushel, and the larger the grain, the more valuable is the seed. By purity is to be 
understood the percentage of pure or true seeds contained in a sample; by germinating power, the per- 
centage of the pure seeds which can germinate or grow. A statement that seed has 90°/o purity and 
80 °/o germinating power, means that only 90 */o of the whole is pure seed, and that only a portion, 
80 °/o, of the pure seed germinates When the purity (P) and germinating power (G) are known, it is 
easy to calculate the percentage of pure and germinating seed: — the purity is multiplied by the ger- 
BG 
100 
seed. The impure portion of the seed has no value, neither have those seeds which cannot germinate ; 
the pure and germinating part of the seed alone has value, and the percentage indicating this deter- 
mines the real value. The real value of a seed whose purity is 90 /o and germination 80 Vee 
minating power, and the product divided by 100 or —= percentage of pure and germinating 
90 8 
=a —= 72°/o. In the same sense, we speak of 10, 20, 30 to 100 °/o seed. 100 °%/o seed has 
no impurities (purity = 100 °/o), and all its seeds germinate (germinating power = 100 °/o). Seeds of 
fodder plants have never this full value. Even the best qualities contain impurities such as earth, debris 
of seed, etc.; and very seldom do all the pure seeds germinate. 
In speaking of the seeds of the different fodder plants, that purity and germination, which indicate 
seed of good quality, is always given. For example, good perennial rye-grass should have 95 °/o purity 
and 75 °/o germinating power == 71.25 °/o real value. The weight of the useful seed (i. e. of the seed 
which is pure and germinating) is easily found, when the real value is known. For example, if a bag 
2 ' 
contains 4% Ibs, of 2°/o seed, only 100 of the whole is useful, therefore the weight of the useful seed 
is only 100 of alb, If a bag of 80°/o sainfoin weighs 50 lbs., then the weight of the useful seed is 
50 < 80 
100 
The price that should be paid for seed can readily be calculated, when the real value is known. 
If 4 pound of 90 °/o seed cost 9d., one pound of perfectly pure and germinating seed (real value = 100) 
lbs. = 40 Ibs. 
should cost — d— 10d, If 70°/o seed cost 9 d. per pound, one pound of the pure and ger- 
00 i) 
minating seed should cost — == 12,854: 
The seed becomes more valuable as its size increases. When the grains are large, fewer make a 
pound. In the description, the number of seeds in a pound has been obtained from a large number of 
*) The distinguished agricultural chemist Adolphe Meier of Waageningen, Holland, has shewn that the nutritive value 
of a plant cannot be determined from its chemical analysis alone. Some plants notoriously bad would appear from their 
chemical analysis to be very nutritive; while others, well known as excellent, would seem from their composition inferior 
to the former. The experience of agriculturists must be taken into account in determining whether a plant constitutes 
suitable and nutritive fodder. The results of the chemical analysis of the good fodder plants are, however, comparable, 
and determine in a general way the comparative nutritive value. 
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