VI. SEEDS. SEED-TESTING FOR THE FARMER. By the late GILBERT H. HICKS, of U. S. Department of Agriculture.* Not less important than good soil and suitable cultivation is seed of the best obtainable quality. In no feature of farm practice is niggardly economy or lack of proper attention more productive of disappointment and loss than in the failure to provide proper seed for sowing. The market gardener is fully alive to this fact, and makes the purchase of desirable seed his foremost care. He wants not only seed which will grow, but also that which will produce an even stand and yield a large crop of the very best vegetables. The matter of paying a few cents or even a dollar extra per pound is to him of no significance, since he knows by long experience that the increased value of his crop will far outweigh the extra cost of the seed. With many farmers this care in the selection of seed is often lacking. Frequently the land is all tilled and ready for sowing before the seed is bought. It is then too late to give it a careful preliminary test, even if the owner desired to do so. This results very often in a poor stand, perhaps in a failure of the crop, or in the scattering of hordes of weeds all over the farm, which usurp the place of the cultivated plants, and cost infinite trouble in their eradication. This is especially noticeable in the case of the clovers, grasses, and other forage plants. No matter how poor the seed turns out to be, after once sown it is too late to secure any redress from the seedsman. Besides, there are very few places in this country where one can get seed tested in order that its real value may be ascertained before sowing. It becomes, then, a matter of great importance to the farmer to provide himself with some simple but efficient means for testing his seed before it is sown. All seed which is to be used for spring sowing should be procured whenever possible in the previous fall or winter. * Revised by A. J. Pieters, in Charge of Pure Seed Investigations, U. S. Department of Agriculture. The long winter months will give ample opportunity for close examination of the seed, and if any of it be found of inferior quality, as will not infrequently prove to be the case, there will be plenty of time to replace it with a desirable article. In all cases seed should be bought of the most reliable seedsmen. In many instances it will pay to get seed from the large dealers, as they have first-class opportunities for handling the very best seed in the country. The extra cost for carriage will be a small item compared with the chance for obtaining good seed. No matter from what source the seed is obtained, nor how reliable the dealer, every farmer should test each lot of seed he expects to plant. Besides learning its quality, he will often obtain valuable information concerning the depth, temperature, and amount of moisture needed, etc. Furthermore, if the seed fails to come up well, the planter will have some intelligent data for ascertaining the reason, and will not be obliged to depend entirely upon the statement of seed catalogues, which convey the impression that failure to germinate is more likely to be the fault of the outdoor conditions than of the seed itself. Good seed is marked by three characteristics: purityor freedom from foreign matter, whether seeds of weeds or other plants; vitality-or capacity for sprouting under favorable conditions; and genuineness-or trueness to name. If any of these qualities be lacking, the seed is unworthy of general trial. Purity. Most vegetable seeds, especially if grown in America, are quite free from admixture. Seed of the cabbage family, however, if grown abroad, and sometimes that of American origin, may contain a mixture of wild mustard or similar seed, often so near like the good seed as to be almost indistinguishable from it. Clover and grass seed is very likely to contain more or less seed of noxious weeds or inferior grasses; hence a careful purity test is necessary in such cases. Hairy vetch and other leguminous forage seeds, excepting the clovers, generally come from Europe and are frequently impure. Often it will require considerable care to detect impurities in the seeds of forage plants, and in case of any doubt samples of such seed should be sent to the nearest experiment station or to the Department of Agriculture for examination. Purity tests are usually made by weighing out a few ounces of seed which has been well stirred up so as to make the sample uniform. This seed is placed upon a pane of glass under which is a piece of light-colored paper, and the sample is carefully gone over seed by seed with a small forceps until all the impurities are separated out. After again weighing, the percentage of impurity is easily obtained. If the impurity consists of chaff or dirt, the loss will consist only in paying for something which will not grow. This will render necessary the sowing of more than the usual amount of seed to the acre. If weed seeds are present, there will be greater or less loss according to the character of the weeds. Such seeds as Canada thistle, dodder, Russian thistle, chess, wild mustard, cockle, plantain, black medic, daisy, penny-cress, wild carrot, wild oats, and a few others, are serious pests. Every farmer should be able to recognize these weed seeds, and avoid all seed which contains any of them even in small amounts. He should also be familiar with the ordinary grass seeds of trade, such as June grass, orchard grass, the common fescues, red top, tall meadow oat grass, etc. Grass-seed mixtures almost invariably contain a large proportion of seed of inferior, if not worthless, species, dirt, and chaff, and should be avoided. It is much better to find out what grasses are adapted to one's fields or pastures and to buy such seed separately, mixing it at home. If scales are not at hand, the amount of pure seed in a given sample can be approximately learned by placing the pure seed in a small bottle with the impurities in another bottle of similar shape and size. The names of the foreign seeds may be learned from some botanist or experiment station.* *The following standards of purity are adopted by the U. S. Department of Agriculture: Asparagus, beans, buckwheat, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, After determining the per cent of pure seed in a sample, the germinative ability should be ascertained. This is even more important. One can judge fairly well of the purity of seed by a casual inspection, but no one can tell by its looks whether a seed is capable of sprouting or not. Considering the great amount of labor and expense involved, it is surprising that so few farmers test their vegetable and field seeds before they are sown. Even fresh seed is sometimes incapable of germination through improper care in harvesting or cleaning. Nor can fresh seed be told by its appearance with certainty. Add to this the fact that old seed is frequently offered for sale, and there is no lack of reason for testing the sprouting capacity of the seed one intends to sow. If the heat and moisture are properly controlled, seedtesting will be found a very simple matter. Seventy to eighty degrees Fahrenheit must be maintained during the day, with a fall of not more than twenty degrees at night, and the seed must be kept constantly damp, but not wet. A good plan is to plant a hundred seeds of average quality —that is, an average number of large, small, plump, and shrivelled ones, etc.-in moist soil in a box or in a small flower-pot which is set inside of a large pot also containing soil. Water as needed is added from time to time in the larger pot and the whole is kept covered so as to prevent evaporation and sudden cooling. When the seeds begin to come up, the pots should be exposed to the light. After about two weeks for most seeds the seedlings are counted and the percentage of sprouts ascertained. If the soil has been previously heated to kill all weed seeds, and proper precautions have been taken, such a test will give a good indication of the value of the seed. To make sure, a dupli collards, Indian corn, cow pea, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, melon, millet (common and pearl), oats, okra, onion, peas, pumpkin, radish, rutabaga, salsify, squash, tomato, turnip, vetch (hairy). Alfalfa, beets, crimson clover, red clover, cotton, Kafir corn, parsley.. 99 per cent. .98 66 66 Hungarian brome grass, carrot, white clover, alsike clover.. ..95 .90 Parsnip cate lot of one hundred seeds should be tested at the same time under the same conditions and the results compared. If the variation exceeds ten per cent, the tests should be repeated until the source of error is discovered. Grasses and very fine seed will require more care than other kinds. Such seed should be barely covered with soil, while in all cases too deep planting must be avoided. In testing grass seeds, except timothy, care must be taken that the heavier chaff, which looks like good seed, but does not contain a grain, is not counted with the good seed. Every seed should be gently pressed with the finger-nail or with a small penknife to determine whether or not it contains a grain. The chaff should count as impurity, but should not be tested for germination. Some hard-coated seeds may be soaked a few hours in warm water, but as a usual thing it is better not to do so. Seeds of clovers and most vegetables can be easily germinated between two folds of damp flannel cloth placed be. tween two plates. Such tests permit frequent inspection of the seed, which should be thrown away as fast as it germinates, count being kept of the same. Damp blotters, porous dishes, and various kinds of especially prepared germinating apparatus are sometimes used in seed-testing. The amount of moisture to be given varies greatly with the variety of seed and can be best learned by experience. In general, quick-sprouting seeds, like clover, cabbage, radish, etc., will stand more moisture than those varieties which sprout more slowly. To make sure of the vitality of seed it is better to test it in the soil, as previously suggested, and also by the cloth or plate method. Soil tests should be continued a few days longer than those made between cloth or blotters. There is considerable difference of opinion as to the standards of germination to which first-class seed should attain. Those in use at present by the U. S. Department of Agriculture are given in the first table on page 89. While first-class seeds should reach the standards referred to, it may be said that seed which falls as much as ten per cent below them need not be rejected as bad. |