The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1917-11-26
MACHINE INVENTED
TO SPROUT SEEDS
BY It's Use Production is Increased
Invention Will Mean Saving of
Millions of Dollars.

(Des MONIES, Iowa, Correspondence
Philadelphia Public LEDGER
Ten years ago a young student in
the University of Illinois set himself
to solve a problem which has cost
the farmers of America millions OF
dollars. Within the last year he has
solved it and presented the machine
he invented free to the farmers of
the world.
The problem was to make the
hardshelled seeds of leguminous
crops terminate more easily and thus
dispense with the eXtraVagant waste
of seed, time, labor and land. The
i invention is worth hundreds of thou
sands of dollars, perhaps millions, to
the farmers of this State alone" de-
clares r. A. Pearson, Assistant Sec
rotary of Agriculture.
The seeds of the principal legumeS
chief among them being sweet clo-
yer, alfalfa, vetch and burr clover
are incrusted with dense or thick
seed coats which prevent the proper
absorption of moisture, even when
placed under perfect conditions for
termination. The same is true, in
lesser degree, of other legumes, such
as red clover, mammoth clover, alsike
and white clover.
Professor Army, of the Minnesota
Experiment Station, reports that OF
all the alfalfa seed produced in that
State30 per cent. is hard, while in
individual cases so to rs per cent.
cannot grow promptly, owing to this
condition. Even greater difficulty is
reported from a large number of the
Western States, where the production
of alfalfa seed is a more important
industry. The seed department of
the United States Department of Ag
riculture, after making hundreds of
tests with red clover, states that the
hard seed may amount to 20, 80 or
even so per cent, and that although
such seed is probably all alive, 1t is
virtually worthless for sowing. a
large number of white clover germi-
nation tests show that approximately
20 per cent. of that seed is hard.
Thousands of dollars are spent an
nually for legume seeds, not one
half, SOMETHING'S not One-siXth, Of
which ever terminate because of
their hard coating making them i'm
pervious to the moisture necessary
for termination. In various tests
hard seeds have been planned under
ideal conditions for months and
years without growing.
in one case a German botaniSt
kept a quantity of hard seed under
perfect termination conditions for
more than &c years and, although
they were not dead, they failed to
terminate. Numerous tests conduC-
ted by botanists and agronomists
show that the seed coats OF a consid-
cradle portion Of the hard seed will
gradually soften and that they will
terminate after several weeks, mon
tbs or years, but not in time to be
of any practical value to the farmer.
The fact that Kansas alone succeeds
in growing 100000 worth of al
falfa, despite the fact that from one
half to three-foUrths of the seed fails
to germminate, because of its hard
coating, shows the immense agricul-
tural possibilities once this seed
problem is effectively solved.
That it is solved by the machine
just invented by Prof. H. d. Hughes,
now of the Iowa State College of Ag
riculture, has been proved by re-
peated experiments. An Illinois far
mer, for whom approximately 5000
pounds of seed was treated by Pro-
fessor Hughes, reports that seed
which terminated only so per cent.
when sent to the Iowa institution