^ Ml _. Xltbfiral Hrts ItJi^cthnol^g k. Printed by GRANITE STATE PRESS Manchester. N. H. Bulletin 215 December, 1924 NEW HAMPSHIRE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY Result of Seed Test for 1924 MADE FOR THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE By M. GALE EASTMAN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE DURHAM. N. H. PRINTED BY THE GRANITE STATE FRES5 MANCHESTER. N. H. 1925 RESULTS OF SEED TESTS For the Year Ending June 30, 1924 There have been handled in the laboratory this year 51U samples of seed. This number includes those sent in by individuals and merchants, as well as the official samples collected by an agent of the State Department of Agricul- ture. This bulletin records the hndings in relation to "offi- cial" samples only. For various reasons, individuals sending seeds to the laboratory for testing may not care to have the results pub- lished. Usually there would be no advantage in such a procedure. Merchants often send samples which they ex- pect to discard rather than sell, unless the tests prove better than they anticipate. However, the State law does not pro- hibit the sale of any seed so long as it is labeled correctly in regard to germination and purity. For this reason, it behooves every buyer of seed to notice carefully the guar- anty statement attached to the container from which his purchase is taken. Purity does not change materially in a sample from year to year, although it may be affected some b}- variations in moisture content, but the germinability of all seeds de- teriorates with the passage of time. Some seeds, in fact, are likely to be of little value if kept more than one year, altliough most farm seeds may be used to advantage for several years. Seed does not have to germinate any given percentage to be useful'; but the higher its germination, the more plants are likely to grow and, consequently, the more valuable the seed to the sower. Therefore, the State law- requires that seed sold for planting be accompanied by a statement as to its content of good seed. This is the in- formation which the careful purchaser needs. If a farmer desires to sow ten pounds of red clover seed per acre on the assumption that 98 per cent is pure and that 99 per cent of it will give healthy sprouts, he 4 N. H. EXPERIMENT STATION [Bulletin 215 should not be satisfied with an equal amount of seed ma- terially lower in purity or germination. (Small seeds like the grasses and clovers cannot be cleaned absolutely pure by commercial mechanical means although they may run very nearly perfect in the best grades of many varieties. Larger seeds like corn and beans may easily be practically 100 per cent pure.) If seed were only 80 per cent pure and gave a response of only 70 per cent in germination, it might still be useful provided the buyer was satisfied that it contained no harmful materials like injurious weeds and that the purchase price was comparable to the actual pro- portion of good seed present. The farmer's ten pounds of seed which was 98 per cent pure actually had 9.8 pounds of the kind of seed he wanted. If 99 per cent of that would germinate, he could expect 9.7 pounds of his pur- chase to start to grow under proper conditions. In the second case, only 8 pounds out of the 10 will be red clover and only seventy seeds in a hundred will properly germi- nate. Therefore, with this seed one could expect a response from only 5.6 pounds out of the original 10. Disregarding probable danger from weed seeds and the possibility of less vigorous plants from the clover seed that actually responds with healthy appearing sprouts, this material could be worth only a little more than half as much as the better sample. Apparent percentages are sometimes misleading. The agri- cultural value of a sample of seed for planting is onl}- as good as the product of its purity and germination percent- ages. On the tag accompanying the seed should be found the date when the last germination test was made. This is required by law. Merchants should keep in mind that seeds deteriorate from year to year and that guarantees made by the wholesaler may not conform to the actual con- ditions of the seed if more than a year old. Some of the most flagrant violations of the seed law have been traced to just such a situation. December, 1924] results of seed tests, 1924 5 The accompanying table compiled from data published by the United States Department of Agriculture and by the Association of Official Seed Analysts of North America will serve to indicate the longevity as w,ell as the purity and germination expected in good seed. Standards of Purity, Germination, and Longevity. KIND OF seed Alfalfa Barley Bluegrass, Canada . Bluegrass, Kentucky Clover, alsike Clover, crimson .... Clover, red Clover, sweet Clover, white Corn, field Meadow fescue . . . . Millet, common . . . . Millet, Japanese .... Oats Orchard grass Rape, Dwarf Essex Redtop Rye Timothy Vetch, hairy Wheat Per cent 98 99 90 90 95 98 98 99 95 99 95 98 98 99 97 99 95 99 98 98 99 Germination Per cent 85-90 90-95 45-50 45-50 75-80 85-90 85-90 85-90 75-80 90-95 ■ 85-90 85-90 85-90 90-95 90-95 90-95 90-95 90-95 85-90 70-75 90-95 Longevity, Average Length of Vitality Years 6-8 3 1-2 1-2 2 O 5-6 5 2 4 2 4 4 3 2-3 6 6 2 5-6 3 2-1 The selling of seed that has been mixed by a careless or ignorant clerk who threw a half-filled scoop back in the 6 N. II. EXPERIMENT STATION [Bulletin 215 wrong pail or dumped a bag in the wrong bin may be a rather serious violation of the law. There is not much room to suppose that a dealer would purposely mix red clover with Hungarian millet. The clover costs much more either by the pound or by the quart. From the farmer's standpoint, however, the clover would not be a very desir- able adultei"ant to have in the millet. The clover would not be very conspicuous, and, even if noticed with the Hun- garian, could hardly be separated economically by hand ; it certainly would not contribute largely to the farmer's suc- cess if sown half and half under the impression that a full seeding of millet was being made under proper conditions for a hot season crop. Nature is very impersonal and gives the farmer credit only in proportion to his ability to do the right thing at the right time ; the State law is also imper- sonal to the extent of allowing no plea of carelessness or ignorance to cloud the fact that the sale of a mixture of red clover and Hungarian millet is a violation of both the letter and the spirit of the law. This illustration is given simply to call attention to the probability that some few cases of adulteration are doubtless due to carelessness on the part of the retailer. Any crop seed that becomes mixed with another in sufficient quantities to constitute more than 5 per cent of the whole by weight not only reduces the percentage of purity by that much but automatically causes the seed to become a "mixture." The State law requires that such a mixture shall bear a statement giving the name and per- centage of each and every kind of agricultural seed con- tained therein in excess of 5 per cent. This applies to lawn seed mixtures, hay mixtures, pasture mixtures, etc. It is a very important regulation which is often violated. Some of our most common and necessary field seeds are expensive and at the same time easily adulterated with worthless or inferior seeds of a similar size, form, and color. Nothing about the appearance of seed will neces- December, 1924] results of seed tests, 1924 7 sarily determine its ability to grow. For example, very old clover seeds may lose a bit of their luster and sometimes fade if dark colored, but they will be the same size and shape and manifest no striking difference from absolutely new seed. Sometimes new seed looks old because it has become a bit dusty. Recognizing the fact that physical appearance is no reliable index to the quality of seeds, laws have been passed in our state to protect the buyer against unscrupulous seed venders who would flood the market with very old, adulterated, or otherwise worthless seed. But some of this seed is still sold. One of the more common ways apparently is by mail. When a farmer sees an attractive advertisement in the paper, oft'ering cheap seed by a company that he knows nothing about because it is so far away, there is need for the exercise of an overabund- ance of good judgment. In the first place, there is no pro- tection afforded by the State law in such a case because the State has no jurisdiction over agreements consummated outside its borders. This fact in itself should make one wary. Write to the Agricultural College or State Depart- ment of Agriculture in the other state and get some idea of the company before investing. If you finally decide to buy such seed from companies of questionable standing, write for directions, take a small sample for testing from the seed you receive, and forward the same to your own State Laboratory for investigation. Certain information makes us believe that such seeds will make an interesting study. Do not ask the company for such a sample because we have no way of making them send a portion out of the same lot from which they will later fill your order. Of course, legitimate companies do business by mail, guarantee their seeds, and stand behind them without reservation or quibbling, but not all companies do business conscientiously. For example, 37 samples of so-called "Alsike and Timothv 8 N. H. EXPERIMENT STATION [Bulletin 215 Mixtures" bought by persons in an eastern state* from a company in Iowa averaged as follows : Percentage of pure seed present Germination Timothy 72.2 82 Alsike clover 10.5 33 (weak) Sixteen similar samples, bought by persons in the same state from a company in Chicago averaged as follows : Percentage of pure seed present Germination Timothy 82.3 84 Alsike clover 7.6 42 * Bui. 504, Agr. Expt. Sta., Geneva, X. Y. Alsike and Timothy mixtures usually look attractive because of the high price of pure alsike on the market. Do not be misled by assuming that any mixture of this kind is necessarily half alsike, or one-third, or any other propor- tion. Look for the guarantee. Notice the small proportion of alsike in the mail-order mixtures previously mentioned and its poor quality. There were also many most undesir- able weed seeds present in these mixtures. None of these samples carried tags giving any information as to purity or germination. These seeds were cheap in many ways of which, on thorough investigation, the price was the least conspicuovis. December, 1924] results of seed tests, 1924 SEED EXAMINATION, 1924 Sam- ple No. Kind of Seed, Brand, Name and Address of Dealer Purity F'nd Guaran- teed Germination F'nd Guaran- teed 4933 i Alfalfa {Grimm) I Holbrook Grocery Company, Keene 4965 I Alfalfa {Canadian Variegated) I McQuesten & Lewis, Manchester 4895 I Alfalfa {Grimm, 027143) I Merrimack Co. Farmers' Exchange, I Concord 47('.9 i Alfalfa {Pan American) S. A. Schurman & Son, Ports I mouth 4670 I Alfalfa {Grimm) I J. B. Varick Co., Manchester 4940 I Aisike {Ace) I Abbott Grocery Company, Keene 4827 I Aisike I Ayers & Jenkins, Rochester 4716 I Aisike {Pan American) I Bell Hardware Company, Derry 4848 I Aisike {Extra Fancy White Moun I tain) I A. F. Burtt & Company, Plymouth 4954 I Aisike ! W. B. Fogg, Hancock 4822 Aisike E. C. Foss Company, Rochester 4908 Aisike (3980) Frank W. Hamlin, Charlestown 4738 Aisike I Hilliard and Kimball, Exeter 4927 Aisike {XXX) Holbrook Grocery Company, Kee'.ie 4874 Aisike I Hopkins Brothers & Belcher, I Greenfield 4813 I Aisike {Eureka) 1 Jenness Hardware Company, Dover 4912 I Aisike {Liberty) - I R. R. Kendall, Charlestown 4681 i Aisike I Manchester Hardware Company, J Manchester 4966 I Aisike j McQuesten & Lewis, Manchester 4987 Aisike {Ace) I INlerrimack Co. Farmers' Exchange, i Concord 4950 I Aisike {Pan American) I J. J. Moreau & Son, Manchester 4886 Aisike {Pan American) I Nashua Beef Company, Nashua 4779 ! Aisike {Eureka) ?... I F. W. Neal, Dover 4871 I Aisike I W. F. Peel, Nashua 4902 I Aisike {Pan American) I Rand, Ball & King Company, I Claremont 4819 I Aisike I Read, Esty Company, Farmington S S S S S S S A S S s 99 98.18 99.34 99 S 1 99 I S I 97.5 S I 95. 1 S I 97.5 98 95 97.5 94.52 97 93 03.28 S 98 S I 98.68 S I 95.55 S \ 95 I S I 95.2 S I 98 I S I 97.50 I S I 98.50 I S ! 98 97.5 98.5 A I S S s s s A A 63 A S A S S 38 S S I S 77.5 S S A S S 92 93 96 90 85 93 93 90 92 90 90 91.25 85 90 94 90 96.75 85 90 94 90 90 90 98 90 96 A — Above. S — Satisfactory. 10 N. H. EXPERIMENT STATION [Bulletin 215 SEED EXAMINATION, \92A~Continucd Sam- ple No. 4861 4761 4750 4983 4698 4799 4726 4727 4760 4838 4756 4776 4924 4696 4805 ?978 4853 4744 4861 4800 4788 4745 4863 4748 4695 Kind of Seed, Brand, Name and Address of Dealer Purity F'nd Guaran- teed A!sil