The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-03-03
PrOhibitiOaists Will Have a Big Raj,
il Mitchell on July 4th Swallow
10 Talk
College Athletes Indulge il a Hare and
hound Chase for Long Distance
Run Training.
PURE SEED GOSPEL TRAIN
nrots. Wheeler aud Chllcott, of Ag
mcultural College, Discuss
Pure Seed Question.

The Milwaukee roads seed special
train reached Mitchell on time Fri
day evening for the advertised lecture
by the representatives of Brookings
agricultural college. On the train
were Profs. Wheeler and Chilcott.
Mr.. Quinn, secretary of The Tri-
State Cram Dealers Association, and
Geo. a. De Nignaud, president OF
the Minneapolis Chamber OF Com
mcrce, and superintendent Mason.
of the James River division.
The gentlemen were escorted to
the city hail building, where the lee
ture was given, and by the time the
speakers We're ready the seats provid-
ed were all taken, fully POO people be-
ing present. There was a large per-
%centage of farmers in the audience
who had driven here for the treat.
The meeting was presided over by
w. II. LaFollelte, editor of the Ga
zette, who introduced the speakers
of the evening.
Prot. Wheeler, botanist. devoted
his time to a discussion of seed
wheat. He had several illustrations
OF perfect and imperfect grain seeds
and showed wherein the weakness of
the germ plant was evident In seed
that failed to grow. When the food
in the plant is attacked in any way
it has the effect Of shrinking the
grain. Last year the rust attacked
the wheat when the plants were
most actively engaged i'm manufac-
turing starch for the grain. and as a
result shlunken wheat was harvest
ed. In speaking of The termination
OF the plant he sand that 1T is en-
tirely dependent upon the food ma
terial which is stored within the
gram, and not until the young plant
has sent its roots out into the soil
to obtain The soil waters with their
dissolved salts, and the leaves en-
banded into the air to obtain the
gaseous compounds of the atmos-
phere. is the plant able to manufac-
ture its owl food materials for its
own growth.
In speaking of the test for germ
~ination MI. Wheeler said: The per
cent of termination of any seed can
be so easily determined by test that
there is no cNcuse for any one sowing
seed which will not grow. The
germinatiou, though by no means
the only test that can be made. is.
nevertheless, a very important one.
lots of loo seeds each. from each
sample to he tested. Spread the seeds
on a moist flannel cloth that has
been placed IN a plate. Cover with
another moist cloth, and cover the
whole with another plate. DO the
same with the other sample of 100.
seeds. i2l&ce them both in a mod
eartGlY @artu room and leave for two
or talee d!ys. Examine occasional
~, and II the cloth becomes dry
molsten the Upper one AS soon as
the seeds begin to sprout. remove
those sproutnjg each day and count.
after from six TO ten days, the sum
of those removed Will give the DER
cent of seed that will terminate and
the number remaining will give the
per cent of those that either will not
germ;nate OF are slow about germin-
ating.
The test OF 90 per cent of the gram
should be secured and not less than
so per cent. Mr.. Wheeler said there
need be no alarm in fearing to SOW
rusted wheat, that the rust has DO
effect on the termination OF the
plant. For smutty wheat he sug-
gested treating it with formalde-
hyde, with which most farmers ale
familiar by this time.
Prof. Chllcott, agronomist, took up
the practical side of the discussion
of selection and improvement of seed
grain. He suggested the necessity of
looking at the pedigree of wheat.
that is. where it was grown and if
it las been grown successfully for a
number of years. He insisted that
wheat or any grain when once shown
to be productive on a farm should