Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-06-16
TESTING FARM SEEDS IN THE
HOME
HOME
Ey l. s. OAKLAND,
Minnehaha County. Glass of 1912, State
College, Brookings.

One would not think of putting in
his seed without knowing that it con
tanned no noxious weed seed, and that
its termination test would be high
enough to insure a good stand. Seeds
may have a low per cent termination
for three reasons: az Freezing he
fore the seed Is mature, thus rupturing
the cells Of the seed; (2) grain ma be
stack-heated or bin-burned, or it may
,spreut, mould and heat in the shock.
The amount Of grain lost in this way
is considerable when there is very
much rain during this time of The
year; (3) seasonal conditions may be
so that the grain does not fill on: we'll,
due to long continued drouths or hot
winds during the growing SEASON.
There may be other reasons, but these
are some Of the principal ones
It is generally known that the South
Dakota Experiment Station at 5rook-
ings and the government seed ties ing
laboratories at Washington, D. C, test
seed for farmers free of charge, but
the time of sending. in seeds may be
eaved by any farmer who SO desires.
He may wish to sell ONE seed to his
nelshbors, but If he takes the slime
to send 1t to a seed testing laboratory
ne ma lose the sale, due to the DELAY
before he car get returns. The aver
age farmer knows whether he has any
noxi. us weeds on his farm, and then
al! he has to do before seeding his
gain, alfalfa, corn, ETC., Is to make
a termination test.
While all kinds of farm seeds ray be
tested, the seeds which It is especially
desirable to test are: clovcrs, alfalfa,
grasses, cereals, rape, fax aid corn.
These are generally grown in South
Dakota. Potatoes are SO bulky that
no convenient way of testins their vi.
ta;ity is known. A tube kept in a
cool. dark plac, ard kept FROM freezing.
or sprouting, is good for seed PR
poses. Garden seed should alv ays, be
purchased f.o.n a good, relia,ie sec.,.
house which should give The germina.
ton and purify test on the label.
Aoparat 8 Need.t.
The appa.a tus needed tor testing
need not be very expensive. Two tin
Il,ates, five yards of cotton flannel. and
ia small piece of h1otting paper is all
that is needel 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 corn is picked after a
hard frost, the Visibility may be re-
Iduced 25 per cent or more. Seed corn
that is picked before a frost and hung
up to dry, If mature at the time of
picking, will generally have a gernai-
nation of IS to 100 per cent. It costs
about IS cents an acre to ear test seed
corn. At the Ames Experiment Sta.
ton it was found that INFESTED corn
yielded IS 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,
land begin from the left and count to.
wards the right: The cotton flannel is
now cut up into strips IS inches wide
and "a inches long. Squares one and
lone-half inches aresruled OF and mark.
led 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