IMPURITIES IN SEED.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 473, 3 April 1909, Page 3

IMPURITIES IN SEED.

THRESHING MACHINES BLAMED. There is-on© point in connection with the proper treatment of grain during threshing which Mr. T. Milburn, Ph. D., of the Midland Agricultural and Dairy College (England) thinks has hardly received' the. attention it deserves. This is the importance of keeping samples true to kind...-It,,is,; a common experience, ho says, to find in r ;tfro same field of grain different .Varieties growing together, and the loss caused ".by. such mixing, though difficult-to estimate, .is beyond dispute. To take the case of barley, where evenness of ripening is a desideratum, if an early ripening variety contains even one per cent, of a lato ripening variety, the crop is bound to be uneven, and consequently to be reduced in value. Some 'of this variation may be due to careless handling, or to mixing caused by rats, but one of the chief causes is the travelling threshing machine. These machines are often stopped before they have run clear, and grain remains lodged in many parts, so that mixing results when threshing is started on some other farm. Another cause is the seed drill, which is frequently started without the cups, etc., being properly cleared. Farmers, therefore, should be careful to see that threshing machine drivers thoroughly clear their machines before, starting, and that their men treat the drills in the same way. Care should, be _ taken also to see that ■ grain intended for 3eed is put into perfectly clean sacks., Oat grains especially cling to the inside of sacks of an open texture..