Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-08-12
FARM SEEDS IN THE
HOME
BY I. S. OAKLAND,
Minnehaha County, Glass Of 1912, State
College, erookings.

One would not think of putting in
his seed without knowing that it coll
tanned no noXious weed seed, and that
it's termination test would be high
enough to insure a good stand. Seeds
may have a low per cent termination
for three reasons: az Freezing be-
fore the seed is mature, thus rupturing
the cells of the seed; (2) grain may be
stack-heated or bin-burned, or it may
The amount of grain lost in this way
is considerable when there is very
much rain during this time of The
year: CD seasonal conditions may he
so that the grain does not fill oui we'll,
due to long continued drouths or hot
winds during the growing season.
There may be other reasons hut these
are some of the principal ones.
1t is generally known that the South
Dakota Experiment Station at 3rool-
ings aud the government seed ties, ing
laboratories at Washington. ID. c, test
seed for farmers free of charge. but
the time of sending in seeds may be
q GU Wy " "4o ~ WI 49,
He may wish to sell some seed to his
%neishbors, but if he takes tic time
to send it to a seed testing laboratory
ne may lose the sale, due to the DELAY
before he a get returns. The aver
age farmer knows whether he has any
noxitus weeds on his farm. and then
al, he has to do before seeding his
-, 80 11co1f1 a~~r 4k@ Is a. 441y4
a termination test.
While all kinds of farm seeds nay be
tested, the seeds which 1t IS especially
desirable to test are: %clovers, alfalfa,
grasses. cereals, rape, fax and corn.
These are generally grows in South
Dakota. Potatoes are so bulky that
no convenient way of testins their vi.
Itaijty is known. A tube. kept in a
cool, dark place ard kept from freezing
o. sproutins, is good for seed pnr-
poses. Garden seed should alv avs be
purchased f-o:n a good, relia,..r sec;
house which should give The germina-
ticn and purity test on the label.
Aoparat S Needei.
The appa atus needed for testing
need not be very expensive. Two tin
%l,ates, five yards of cotton flannel. and
a small piece of plotting paper is all
that is needed in making the germina-
ton test. The entire outfit can be
purchased for less than 81, and the
money saved will sometimes repay the
cost a thousand times.
Testing Seed Corn.
When seed cor is picked after a
hard frost, the Visibility may be re-
duced 25 per cent or more. Seed corr
that is picked before a frost and hung
up to dry, if mature at the time of
picking. will generally have a germi.
nation of IS to 100 per cent. 1t costs
about Is cents an acre to a test seed
corn. At the Ames Experiment Sta
ton it was found that INFESTED corn
yielded SIS bushels, while tested corn
yielded IS bushels per acre. The most
convenient way of testing corn is to
lay the ears on a table, shelf or rack,
and begin from the left and count to-
wards the right. The cotton flannel is
now cut up into strips 10 inches wide
and "a inches long. Squares one and
lone-half inches are ruled of and mark
ed and numbered with a blue marking
pencil.
Now number the upper left hand
corner square one. and number from
left to right. The operator is now