The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-09-24
Good Seed.

I'f0f- IoWpr'ugc OF Tue oouIn CaTound
University, made speech lately on the sub
iect of good seeds for the farm, aud said,
among other things:
Our farmers in the purchase of their fer
tilzers have to be protected by law against
authorizations and fraud, but does that en-
sure to them good crops at all times and
with all seeds, even on good soils and with
fair seasons2 Let us see. A farmer more
progressive than his neighbors determines
to have permanent pasture for his newly
imported fine stock. He goes to the seeds
man, buys a lot OF seeds purporting to be
of tho kinds desired, selects a choice tract
of land, puts it in good filth and sows the
seed thicklv. After while a very scanty
crop of the grass appears, or perhaps none
at ali. The pasture is a failure. Our
farmer is disguised and his neighbors shake
their heads and say, II told you So"
Such failures are naturally attributed to
the climate, ard have been the cause of that
indifference or hesitancy on the part of our
farming population toward making what
they are inclined to believe are useless ex-
periments, and for which they have neither
time or means to spare, preparing to follow
the old routine of corn and cotton planting
a disappointment on the part of the farmer
in not seeing plat sown in grass seed be-
come covered with beautiful green, or in
finding that the seed of some other crop has
failed to send up sprouts, may be attributed
to one or more of number of causes, some
of them accidental, others natural and to be
i IL,
others are intentional on the part of the
seller. l will briefly allude to some of
them.
First is the accidental admixtnre of chaff
from which the seed has fallen out; of
trash from the stalks of the plants broken
up during threshing or separation of the
seed, and, also, of the trash, and even
seeds, of other plants and weeds that were
carelessly allowed to grow up with the
crop. In this case it is more than probable
that winnowing or sitting were neglected on
the part of the scotsman.
TIE presence of foreign seed is source
Of very great danger to the crops and to
the lands of the planter; for not only may
the lands, IN a few years, become covered
WIN ULESD GTdSSSS anu NcttlS udEu W 6i dut-
cate, but poisonous weeds may be intro
1uced and be the cause of greater losses or
Injury to live stock. A single seed per acre
OF some weeds would, in the course of a
very few years, increase to a million or
more. An examination of the purchased
lot might have resulted in the removal of
that one seed, and the heavy crop of
of IN
A second cause of failure may be in
juries inflicted by insects, by which the
vitality of the germ has been destroyed.
A third cause of the failure may be the
age of the planted seei. 1t is well known
chat very few varieties of seed retain their
vitality for moro than very few years,
the time varying with the size, the thickness
of the bulls or protecting covering, and
with the conditions surrounding the seed
when stored for preservation. OF the gar
den varieties the seed of the parsnip and
onions will keep year only; those of peas,
corn, carrots and pepper two years, lettuce
and radisEes three years, turnlps four years,
tomatoes, beets and cabbages five years,
while the seeds of cucumbers, squashes and
melons will keep ten years. The grass
seeds are considered worthless after two
years, and even to large extent after one
year.
Here of course the planter is at the mercy
of the scotsman, so far as the appearance
of the seed is concerned, and this I'm
changed outward appearance affords very
strong temptation to the dealer to palm off
old seed as flesh and thus get rid Of old and
worthless stock.
A fourth and probably frequent cause of
failure is that of sowing seed that have not
ripened, or i'll other words, seed i'll which
the amount of starch necessary for the pro-
lection of the germ before planting and for
the food of the germ after planting has not
sufficiently accumulated.
The fifth and last cause to which | shall
alude is that of intended adulteration on
the part of the seller, by the use of chaff,
by the admixture of old and worthless seed
of the variety desired or of some very
cheap seed of en- entirely different variety
which would not only he useless to the
planter, but would become pest to the
land and crop. This adulteration is often
w buo cAtSuJ VI Ollo hail VI even VII 90
feurths of the purchased lot; and it has
happened that not seed of the desired va
riety, or the variety under whose name it
was sold, could be found in the lot,
This adulteration of seed Is practiced
doubtless to far greater extent than is
generally supposed, and while the whole
country is distracted by cries of frauds aad
adulterations in foods, baking powders,
liquors OF all kinds, oils, paints, butter, etc,
the people have become SO dazed as to over
look the seeds of those plants upon which
their living depends, and thus many farmer
is imposed upon and defrauded.
In those states where the people are be-
ginning to turn their attention to other
crops than cotton there is very great La
bility to fraud in the purchase Of the seed
OF grasses with which farmers are not ia
milar, though even in those states where
the grazing of cattle is one of the chief pur-
suits we hear great complaint OF the i'm
purity and worthlessness of grass seeds, as
well as Of corn and other seeds purchased
from dealers.