Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-07-07


nrui- Stance oid. 4 fier.
/. c.. III
clover ia,i bcior. do,cr Z II IS 81 =
" pact nuwer,. .......... ds ~ ~ ~
Cdiof-.e,i cake luthhaii., ~ Il vi a
The above figures are simply averages Of
the results of trials made, in most eases, 10y
different oNpcrimcutcis on different animals
In case Of meadow and clover hay they are
perhaps so numerous as to fairly establish
the superiority of The former by showing
that, although clover hay contains some -four
per cent. more albumiuoids than grass hay
1t gives 40 more Of them to the support Of
animals, while It's fiber is far less digestible
The influence Of age on the digestbility of
forage is strikingly seen in case Of clover,
the percentage value of which decreases
rapidly during towering aud ripeniug. po-
tatoes and liuseed cake are among the most
concentrated and digestible of foods and
cotton-seed cake. when free from hulls. ranks
but little inferior H. linseed cake. II is OBJ
served that rye straw is food to the extent of
unc-hall 10, weight; while of the grain OF
oats Thirty per cent. Is undgestcd But the
aibuminoids Of oats are thrice more nuiri-
tious than those OF rye straw and the eel
lulose of the straw is thrice as nutri-
tious as that OF oats, The belief so preva-
lent in this country, that Indian corn is I'M
surpassed among the grains as food, finds
confirmation in these researches its relative
digestibily being niger than that of barley,
as well as that of peas and beans. 1t is
evident that experiments which promise 10
give Us the data for comparing the dgesti-
bilty Of different foods, are of the utmost
i.
Of really normal ratons will become a mat
terof satisfactory certainty, and the economy
of cattle food will be pushed 10 nearits limits.
A third direction in which the expert
ment station is proving Of direct service to
the farmer is in the examination OF seeds, as
regards their commences purity, and germ
NATIVE quality. II is but few years since
attention was directed in Great Britain to
the Wholesale distribution Of purposely
adulterated seeds throughout that country,
and stringent laws and severe penalties We're
there enacted TO protect the farmer.
There lately ilourished in London, estab-
lishments where the business of " doctor
ing " tunip-seed was prosecuted ON an ex-
tcnsive scale Old aud worthless seeds, or
seeds of inferior kinds OF tunips, were
killed and coored, and used TO the estimated
amount Of twenty thousand bushels annually,
for aduterating the seed of those varieties
most sought for by farmers.
In London and on the continent hundreds
Of tons of the cheap yellow clover seed
(Nedicdgo iupWind) We're and still are mixed
in larger or smaller proportions with the red
clover seed, and sold at the high price of
the latter.
In 1865, three tons Of so-caled red clover
seed we're sold to farmers in the Saxon city
e 1. q g b.. 4. al
yellow clover.
In Saxony light and inferior kinds OF oats
are extensively bought by seedsmen to adul-
tcrate the heavy and priced sorts.
The celebrated Probstei rye is annu-
ally produced to the extent Of twenty-eight
hundred to thirty-four hundred bushels; but
the amount ostensibly disposed Of in the
/ seed trade is hundreds Of thousands of
| bushels.
DR.. Noble, Director of the Tharand cx-
| pertinent station, reports finding in sam
[ pie Of tall meadow fescue grass (Fesfucd
ciatoy) seventy per cent. of adulteration ;
and two samples of so-called grass Seed
having all the external appearance of good
article, were found to consist of grass flow
ers only. without n ripe seed of any sort.
The climax Of this kind of ingenious
yillainy appears TO have been reached in
| Hamburg, where there recently existed a
mandatory Of counterfeit clover seed
which was made from quartz sand, and with
such skin as to deceive experienced judges
who have pronounced samples containing
twenty-five per cent. of these quartz grains to
be pure red clover seed.
In q sample of Timothy seed which had
the appearance of being very pure, DIR.
Noble found about seven per cent of for
eign seed, in which he identified thirty-one
different kinds, mostly weeds and inferior
grasses; and he calculated that upon a
Saxon acre, (==l.N Eng. acres) no less than
one million seven hundred thousand of these
foreign seeds would be sown, or twenty-four
upon every square foot, by using the Gus
tomary quantity of this pure Timothy seed.
DIR. Noble examined, during the first four
years since the Tharand experiment station
has given this matter attention, some seven
teen hundred samples of seed lie deter
mines not only the extent of adulteration
with foreign seed and mixtures, but he also
nscertains, by careful sprouting trials, what
percentage of the genuine seed is alive and
capable of producing vigorous plants.
DIR, Noble has, by very numerous and
laborious experiments upon seeds pro
cured from various localities and climates,
determined what must be regarded as the
average per cent. of good seed, that will
sprout and grow, in number of various
kinds, when genuine, His experience shows
that unadulterated white clover seed, of
which siXtysix per cent. will terminate, is
of average quality flax seed, Of which but
one-half viii sprout is poor while dill seed,
of which ten per cent. comes up, is excellent.
DIR. Mobiles experiments show further that
very many genuine commercial seeds are of
inferior quality, Welding much less than the
proper average Of plants, probably from adj
mixture with the fresh stock, OF old seed
whose vitality is impaired or destroyed.
The many complaints that are made of
the poor quality OF the seeds sent out by the
Agricultural Department at Washington are,
in large degree, explained by these revela-
tions of the state Of the trade in Europe.
II is but six or seven years since DIR. Noble
first called public attention to this subject.
lie has begun the publication of book con
tanning fun descriptions and figures of the
useful aud hurtful seeds that occur in com
mercc and already at some twenty ex-
pertinent stations farmers are able to get
trustworthy examinations of seeds as to
purity and vitality, aud At trifing cost.
To say that the farmers Of Connecticut
and of our entire country urgently need the
aid and stimulus of the experiment stations,
is to make a most evident assertion. Our
Agricultural Colleges have but few agricul-
tural students. The agricultural course Of
instruction in this school is a supply that
meets little demand The reason lies mainly
in the fact that our intellectual activity has
the habit Of running in other than agricul-
tural channels. 10 bring our farmers in di-
rect aud profitable contact with the results Of
science to bring science into active and visible
co-OnpratiOn with thp tolls and plnns Of the