Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1912-03-26
Testing Seeds at Home

1t is important to the user of seeds not
only to know their percentage of purity
and what kind of weeds they carry, but
to also know something Of their vitality.
In the case of seeds there are at least
three ways whereby the user may be in
jured. A seed which carries foreign
matter of any kind, in any considerable
amount, is correspOndingly lowered in
value. But there is another reason more
important than the money consideration,
and that is that the weed seeds which
the seeds contain may be pernicious.
For eIample,-clover seed frequently
carries plantain seed. II this plantain
seed is the door-yard variety which 10
present practically all over Maine, there
ould be comparatively little harm from
using clover seed which contained 1t.
On the other haud-lance leaved plain
tain or rib grass is not abundant in
Maine. II il an undesirable plant
and using seed carrying it might intro
duce weed into land which is at present
free from IL. II is important that the
farmer should know the vitality as we'll
as the purity of the seed that he is to use.
No matter how pure a seed may be, If
half of it will not sprout il has no more
value than II the seed were half chsff.
While it is not easy to make an exact
purity test, il is not difficult for farmer
TO so acquaint himself with the seeds he
is ordinarily using that by the help Of an
ordinary reading or magnifying glass he
will be able to tell whether the seed in
question contains any considerable
amount of impurities. II the seed 10
spread out upon white plate, little
practice will enable a farmer to see
whether given seed is reasonably pure OF
NOT, and he will soon learn to detect the
more common foreign seeds.
The following simple instructions for
performing termination tests at homo
without any special apparatus Will enable
the farmer to learn for himself whether
the seed that he is using has good vital
ity or not. Termination tests may be
made in two ways,-the so-called blot
ting paper methods, and the sand method.
In making the termination test with
blotting paper, blue blotting paper OF
common weight, cut into strips about 9
Z 10 inches shonld be used. This 10 laid
folded twice 80 as to get piece OF three
thicknesses and about six inches square,
on an ordinary dinner plate or platter.
The seeds IL small are placed on the top
of the paper and II large between the
folds. The paper is kept moist (but not
soaked) and at temperature OF 10 to 81
degrees +.
II only a vitality test Is desired the
blotting paper method Is preferable, but
il is desired to know how many seeds
may be expected to grow, the sand
method is in some ways preferable. In
this method q thin layer Of fine sand
| Ia spriukled on the bottom of q fiat dish
and the seeds to be tested placed on II
under thin covering Of sand. This
must be kept moist and we'll shaded and
at somewhat higher temperature than
| in the first case.
At the end Of every second day in the
case of some seeds, and the third day IN
the case of those terminating more
slowly, the sprouted seeds should DO 70.
moved from the blotters or the sand and
counted, the per cent being readily found
BY referring back to the number OF seeds
which were taken for the test. II l0(
seeds are used, the number that sproui
give the vitality per ceut.-Maine Station
Bulletin.