News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1901-06-05
TESTING THE SEEDS.
EXPERIMENTS TO BE MADE AT THE
PAN-AMERICAN.

the United States Department of
Agriculture VIII Deeply Interest
the AgricuIturists.
The progressive agriculturist will
be interested in the exhibit of the Di-
vision of Botany of the United States
Department Of Agriculture at the Pan
American Exposition, as it relates to
one of the first essentials of his call
ing. The exhibit will be restricted to
only one of the numerous lines Of work
conducted by the Division of Botany
namely, pure seed investigations. 1t
will represent the work of the Seed
Laboratory at the Department of Agri-
culture, where samples of all seeds dis
tributed by the Government are now
carefully tested for purity, germina-
bility, and freedom from seeds of nOx-
! ious weeds.
Thousands of samples from farmers
and seedsmen in all parts of the coun-
try are also tested at this laboratory
The work is Of special interest to farm
ers, gardeners, seedsmen and expert
ment station workers, to whom the sub
| ject Of pure seeds is of vital impor-
lance.
The Seed Laboratory of the Depart
ment of Agriculture is we'll recognized
as the most important seed testing sta
! ton in America. Its methods, stand
ards, and most important pieces Of APP
| paratus have been adopted for seed
testing at many of the State Expert
ment stations. The methods now in
use and many of the instruments and
larger pieces Of apparatus have been
devised and perfected by the men in
charge to meet the necessities of the
work.
On entering the space devoted to this
exhibit at the left of the main aisle
one sees first in a glass case a purity
separating table with magnifying glass,
forceps and other tools used by experts
in separating a sample of commercial
seed into it's component parts of pure
seed chaff, sand and other foreign
matter and weed seeds. Next is a pair
Of fine balances on which samples are
weighed, all percentages in seed purity,
tests being based upon weight. Be
| yOnd the scales is a new combined
mixer and sampler. In this a quantity
of seeds IS quickly mixed and sample
of the desired amount delivered which
will fairly represent the entire lot One
of the most attractive pieces of apRa-
ratus used in purity testing is the blast
impurity separator which is also a new
device The air blast is furnished by
modern blower driven by an electric
motor. The device itself however, il
which the separation of chaf and light
er impurities from seed is performed
through the action of an air current
consists of simple bent glass tube
connected with a receiver.
Actual termination tests will be car
ried on at the Exposition as in the
Seed Laboratory at Washington. Com
mercial seeds will be counted, arrang-
ed in folded blue blotters, moistened
and placed in the standard germinat-
| ing chamber, where they will be kept
at fixed temperatures favorable to ger
mnation. Check termination tests,
such as are employed in conducting
tests with many kinds of seeds, will be
made in sterliZed sand and soil in
minating each day for definite period
in each of the tests will be noted, and
the percentage of termination thus
computed.
Many weeds the seeds of which are
most frequently found as impurities
in commercial seeds are represented
by living plants labeled with the
names by which they should be desig-
mated by English speaking people
wherever found. A unique feature is
an exhibit Of seeds of many Of these
weeds and also several kinds Of COM
mercial seeds arranged under 40 mag
nifying glasses accompanied by seeds
of the same kinds in open dishes, so
that one may readily compare the mag
nifed impression with the actual seed
and note differences and distinctive
characters that would not appear to
the unaided eye.
The results and Importance of seed
testing are graphically represented by
several groups of glass tubes contain
ing different kinds of commercial
seeds These show the ordinary COM
mercial seed, the amount of pure seed
true to name in the sample and the
amount of inert matter, such as chaff,
sticks and sand, the proportion of
weed seeds, and finally the amount of
germinable seeds true to name, as de-
termned by test of similar sample and
the proportion of waste. A comPari-
son Of these last two indicates how
much is often paid for waste in buy
ing INFESTED and poorly cleaned seeds.
Commercial seed growing is shown
by Photographic illustrations of some
IF the largest seed farms in California,
where the production Of garden seeds
has reached its highest development
In this country.
CHARLES EDWARD LLOYD.
Burden Bearers of the East.
In the east the camel today, as in the
, | dovS Of CoIomOn is the nrinciDol hpa ST