The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1877-12-11 00:00:00

SEED ADULTERATION.

It is a libel to say as the Times lid, "that any seed
merchant may go to Mark Lane. the great market for
seeds of every kind, and obtain at very moderate
prices any quantity of seeds that have lost their
vitality by age, by being boiled, or kiln-dried."
There is soul of good in things evil, and the dilution
of good seed by " dead ;seed" has the advantage which
seed sowers, whether they be gardeners or farmeta,
are so slow to act on of securing" thin seeding." This
is a matter of great importanee in the case of turnips,
and may Rave much subsequent labour in hoeing.
Even market-gardeners, the best cultivators, KO far as
their range extends, are too apt to fall into the wade-
fill extravagance of over thick-seeding. But admitting
this possible advantage in diluting seed, .1 Bull—
poor gullible mortal that he is—does not like to be
cheated, and is apt to wax wroth if he buys as coffee
what is really coffee phis chicory, even though he may
! have no objection to chicory.
! We have had the advantage of seeing the reports of
the inspectors, some of which have already been made
public, and others probably will be shortly, and they
disclose an amount of killing, dyeing, and " improv.
ing" seeds of various natures that we were not prepared
for. White clover is dressed to resemble Alsike.
Seed of inferior quality and low price is doctored and
then gold at an advance of more than 100 per cent.
Seed of ono plant is made to resemble that of another
of totally different kind. so different that the merest
tyro in botany could tell the difference were the husk
removed. Of course, this seed is killed an as to
prevent its germination, and the consequent detection
of the fraud, and this sort of thing has been done, not
by the ton, but by the hundrene of tons. Agricultural
seeds naturally form the bulk of the patients that come
under the hands of thew; "doctors," but garden seeds
of various kinds are stated to undergo medical treat.
ment of this kind. The seed is ;subjected to heat,
exposed to the fumes of sulphur, for greater or NIS
time, in a nearly air tight dark chamber, the seeds
being placed on line haircloth stretched tightly a few
feet above the fire, on which the puts containing the
brimstone are placed. Various means are used to
stain the old seed so as t ; give it a new and fresh
appearance. Further details it would not be advisable
to publish at present. We have said enough to show
---what war by ~,,me People doubted—the necessity for
the Act, and the denralitlity of protecting the honest
dealer and the unwitting consumer, We cannot help,
however, commenting on the way in which the latter
class of the community have allowed themselves to be
defrauded, because they would not take the very small
modicum of trouble required to test the percentage of
germinating ;seed in any sample that may be presented
to them. If the placing a known number or seeds in
• flowerpot and watching the numbers that germinate,
or if the scattering a few seeds upon a piece of flannel
kept moist, be too much trouble, then the consulting
botanist of the Royal Agricultural Society might be
applied to at an outlay of a few shillings, or arrange-
ments; might probably be made for the trial to take
place at the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society
at Chiswick.—ffarslencss' Chronicle.