PURITY OF SEEDS.

Shannon News, 20 June 1924, Page 4

PURITY OF SEEDS.

It is patent that the value of a sample of seed depends largely upon the percentage of purity and germination, but a statement regarding purity alone, or germination alone, -conveys little useful information about' the seed. Consequently it is desirable that the purchaser should consider what may be the seed that he is buying. This percentage figure is sometimes called the real value of the sample, and is obtained by multiplying the percentage of purity and the percentage of germination and dividing the product by 100. Thus, if the purity is 95 per cent, and the germk nation capacity 90 per cent, the real value is (95 x 90) —100 per cent.— 55.5 per cent. Seeds which have matured or been, harvested under adverse weather conditions, although* sometimes showing a moderate germination capacity, frequently produce an unsatisfactory plant. Farmers should be particularly careful in the use of their own home-grown samples of cereals and red clover, and when it is known that these have been badly harvested, samples should be sent fot a report, from the Biological Division of the Department of Agriculture, Wellington,' before they arc sown. In some eases it would suffice to add to the normal seeding per acre, and in others the samples should be rejected altogether for seed purposes;