their seeds as though nobody but themselves sold seeds that are fresh, yet they all hesitate about recommending their seeds, and give a very plausible reason. I do not wish to speak of this subject as throwing a slur upon all these seedsmen, but it is for our interest to know something about the seeds we plant. Probably these large dealers are about as careful in getting their seeds as they can be. A firm that has squash seeds raised for them and furnished them by the car load cannot be quite so particular about their seeds as a man who saves but a few and looks after all the particulars. Of course he can save them very much cheaper if he raises them in large quantities. I tested about thirty kinds of seeds from each dealer, and generally took the kinds of seeds that were most commonly used, the standard varieties. I got only the small packets. I did not in any case order them in bulk. It was some expense, and I got the small packets, such as the small gardeners would usually buy. I suppose if I were to order them in quantity I would get something better.

Mr. James M. Smith - It is a well known fact among mar ket gardeners that large packets are better.

Prof. Beale I purchased seeds of two firms where they were selling them by the bushel, and the result was somewhat better than with the packets, but I began where I most suspected poor results. I bought 30 samples of J. M. Thorborn & Co., of New York, who are very large dealers. None of them ran over 94 per cent., and that was American lettuce; the Queen onion, 4 per cent.; corn salad cabbage, 44 per cent.; McLean's advance pea, 18 per cent.; drumhead Savoy cabbage, 25 per cent.; fine Algiers cauliflower, 70 per cent.; early curled lettuce, 75 per cent.; yellow danvers onions, 29 per cent., etc. I have given in my report the temperatures in each case and the mode of testing, whether by damp paper or in porous saucers. They were tested by the side of the College grown seeds. We counted out the seeds. in lots of 50, and sometimes 100, and sometimes repeated the experiment. From 1). M. Ferry, who sells immense quantities of seeds in Michigan, I got seeds. One lot of seeds out of the lot averaged 100 per cent., the nutmeg melons. With early curled lettuce no seeds out of a hundred germinated.

Some ran up pretty well, some 50 per cent, etc. These were seeds ordered directly of the firm. Seeds of the same firm bought at groceries in Lansing ran a good deal lower. Out of them the long scarlet radish ran 30 per cent., the Hubbard squash, 73 per cent., with drumhead lettuce out of 100 seeds none germinated, and out of early prize lettuce none germinated, long scarlet radishes, again, 10 per cent., long orange carrot 22 per cent. Last year they were rather better than the year before.

B. K. Bliss & Sons were about the same as Ferry's, only a little poorer. Of early cracker onions and yellow danvers onions no seeds germinated. Of early China beans 100 per cent. germinated, thyme eleven per cent., summer savory three per cent., scarlet olive radishes twelve per cent., scarlet turnip radishes seventy per cent., short top radishes fourteen per cent. J. J. H. Gregory was about the same. Shakers' Seed company, Lebanon, N. Y., about the same. Peter Henderson very poor; early curled lettuce seventy-eight per cent., black seed lettuce ten per cent., yellow danvers onions three per cent., thyme twenty-one per cent., long scarlet radish five per cent. These seeds were bought directly of the firm by a friend for me to test. I tested seeds of David Landreth & Son, of Philadelphia. From the Detroit Seed Company I had but very few, and they have gone out of business. James Vick, of Rochester, was about like D. M. Ferry. The Department of Agriculture at Washington was about like the rest. Briggs & Bro. very poor. They have been bought out by Sibley & Co. Joseph Harris, of Rochester, about like the rest: Drumhead Savoy cabbage 3 per cent., Fotler's drumhead cabbage 35 per cent., yellow danvers onions 78 per cent. early tennis ball lettuce 71 per cent., imperial Brunswick cabbage 60 per cent.

Isaac Tillinghast, a market gardener of Pennsylvania, brags a good deal of his seeds: flat dutch cabbage 45 per cent., Malta lettuce 36 per cent., yellow danvers onions 84 per cent., early scarlet radishes 4 per cent., premium flat dutch cabbage 50 per cent. William Carson, of New York, is like the rest. Hiram Sibley: Yellow danvers onions, tested with test plates, 94; same tested with porous saucers, 23; golden wax beans 100 per cent., nutmeg melons 100 per cent.,

Lee's immense hardy lettuce no seeds germinated out of 200, two tests being made. Of the College seeds tested the lowest was 80 per cent., which was nutmeg melon. Lee's mammoth lettuce and Ferry's mammoth curled lettuce and the white spine cucumber ran 100 per cent., and the red Weatherfield onion and the champion of England peas ran 99 per cent.

In 1881 the autumn was quite wet and before corn which was up in the crib was fairly dry there came a severe frost. Farmers many times are a little careless about saving seed corn and pick it from the crib, and in planting it sometimes without testing it they find very little comes up. I have here the report of twenty-four lots of corn sent in to me from various parts of Michigan by the farmers, which I tested with interesting results. In several lots of 100 seeds not one grew. In other instances five, and ten and twelve per cent. This is a matter of some interest to Michigan farmers at any rate, because we may have just such a season as we had two years ago, and the farmer of Michigan who picks his seed corn after a severe frost in the fall will find to his sorrow that he has planted poor seed. What shall be done if so many of these large seedsmen send such poor seed? A market gardener will not trust to poor seeds. He will test them carefully. He is in the business and will know by experience the seeds he uses in nearly all cases; but many farmers will purchase a few seeds, perhaps at the last pinch, going to the grocery and getting them. Instead of having these large seedsmen raise the seeds I think it would be better to have a large number of persons all over the country raise such seeds as they can raise well, and let them supply the farmers of their neighborhood or the members of their granges with the seeds that they know that they can raise well. They may cost two or three times as much, but what does the cost of the seed amount to if we fail to get seed that is just right.

Will seeds that have sprouted once sprout again? In the case of corn and oats and buckwheat there is no trouble in their sprouting several times. In the case of wheat, I found last year by sprouting white wheat and red wheat and buckwheat they ran about the same. One hundred kernels of Schumacher was sprouted and dried until a miller would say

it was dry enough to grind. Of these tested, the second time 100 per cent. germinated, the third time 90 per cent., the fourth time 87 per cent., and the fifth time 67 per cent., and the sixth time 8 per cent. This would lead me to conclude that if wheat had not grown very much it would be safe to sow it for seed, although it would be somewhat weakened. Buckwheat was a little better and corn about the same.

Mr. J. M. Smith-Is it possible to fertilize an ear of corn. from its own blossom?

Prof. Beale - By covering up several ears of corn with a little paper sack thrown over it before the silk came out and saving the pollen from that stock, I have only succeeded outof half a dozen times in getting in one case a few kernels of corn, by using the pollen from the same stock. Corn is probably seldom self-fertilized.

In the case of grass seeds mixed together for lawn purposes, I examined a package and found that it consisted of 80.1 per cent. of June grass, 13.4 per cent. of English rye grass, and 6.2 per cent. of white clover, .3 per cent. timothy. The person who buys a package of that mixture pays an extraordinarily high price for the seed. It is better and cheaper to purchase just June grass.

PLATS OF GRASSES AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS.

For the last six years I have had one or two hundred plats of grasses growing, which are very interesting, including Bermuda grass and sorghum halepense. We have tested our June grass side by side with two lots of genuine blue grass from Kentucky, and found it one and the same. I sent to a friend in Kentucky and asked him to go to two different seedsmen who knew that they had genuine Kentucky blue grass. I went to our hay mow and picked up the June grass with my own hands and planted it. They came up alike and grew alike and looked alike all the way through as every farmer says and every botanist says who sees them. I did not discover that the Kentucky seeds produced any better plants than those selected from our own hay mow. I am sorry that the Kentucky people have applied the name blue grass to it, because it is not as blue as a grass that is often found in the north.

FEEDING SWEET VERNAL GRASS.

This grass is often recommended as a valuable grass for early pastures. A few experiments have been made. A young horse has been kept on dry feed for a long time. On May 24th, 1881, I cut a bunch of green Poapratensis, June grass, and another of sweet vernal. The horse was first offered some of the June grass, which he ate. He was then offered some of the sweet vernal, which he ate at once. Then a bunch of June grass was placed on one side of his nose and some sweet vernal on the opposite side, when he took the June grass first. I reversed the bunches, when he again selected the June grass, which he finished, and then picked up the scattered fragments of the same from a dirty yard, after which he returned to the sweet vernal and ate that also.

On May 25th, one of my special students, W. C. Latta, made a similar experiment with samples of sweet vernal and meadow fox tail. Both were in flower and had been dried for several days. The cow rather preferred the meadow fox tail, but ate both readily. Another cow ate both alike. Another preferred the meadow fox tail and did not care for the sweet vernal. An Ayrshire cow ate both greedily, apparently without any preference. Two of the work horses of the farm department ate both alike, while a third horse preferred the meadow fox tail, but ate both readily. The cows had been in pasture for some time, while the horses had been kept on cut hay and grain.

TESTING DARK COLORED CLOVER SEED.

The first test I made rather indicated that the dark clover seed was a little the best. The second showed that the light clover seeds were a little the best. If we should test a large number I doubt whether we should find any difference. It is found that in market the dark colored clover seed is the best. We planted two beds side by side, in one of which dark seeds only were sown, and in the other light seeds. At first we thought the dark colored seeds did a little the best, but after a while I could find no difference.