Table 2.—Germination of Ten Sorts of Turnip Seeds from Market Samples.
| No. | Copy of Label. | Came up per cent. | No. of Days. | |||||
| 1 | Norfolk Green round | 76 | 9 | - | Taken from the bags by the Author. | |||
| 2 | White Globe | 78 | 15 | |||||
| 3 | Early Grey-topped Stone | 80 | 10 | |||||
| 4 | Red Tankard, or Pudding | 62 | 11 | |||||
| 5 | Orange Jelly | 52 | 15 | |||||
| 6 | Norfolk Round Red | 80 | 10 | |||||
| 7 | Purple-topped yellow Scotch | 76 | 11 | |||||
| 8 | White Dutch | 64 | 12 | |||||
| 9 | Early Green top | 64 | 13 | |||||
| 10 | Yellow Tankard Pudding | 48 | 12 | |||||
| Came up | = | 68 | ||||||
| Failed | = | 32 | ||||||
Eight samples of swedes from the same source are in the next table associated with a sample of Skirving’s swede, grown in our own garden (8), of the following table, and another of turnip (9), grown on a neighbouring farm. We may remark upon the last-named sample, that we had observed the growth of this seed, which was from a very poor crop, half of which had decayed on the ground with the early frost of 1860, and the rest, without transplanting or selection of any kind, was allowed to seed. Now, as this whole crop was so degenerated that it ought never to have been seeded at all, we were anxious to get some of the seed from the bulk, in order to test from its growth this year whether it will not bring forth a degenerate progeny. Its germinating qualities will be seen from the table, and yet it is by no means the worst sample, which seems to show that the others are not naturally bad, but so by mixture.
Table 3.—Germination of Swedes, &c., from Market Samples, &c.
| No. | Copy of Label. | Came up per cent. | No. of Days. | ||||||
| 1 | Ashcroft’s improved Purple Top | 58 | 12 | - | Taken from the bags by the Author. | ||||
| 2 | New Bangholm | 96 | 10 | ||||||
| 3 | Skirving’s Liverpool | 62 | 16 | ||||||
| 4 | Green Top | 78 | 10 | ||||||
| 5 | Marshall’s improved Purple Top | 90 | 10 | ||||||
| 6 | Hewer’s Improved White | 68 | 17 | ||||||
| 7 | Green Major | 86 | 10 | ||||||
| 8 | Skirving’s Swede (own grown) | 96 | 10 | ||||||
| 9 | Green Top Turnip, neighbour’s farm | 78 | 6 | ||||||
| 10 | Fosterton Hybrid Turnip | 64 | 10 | ||||||
| Came up | = | 77 | ·6 | ||||||
| Failed | = | 22 | ·4 | ||||||
| Failed of seedsman’s specimens | = | 24 | ·8 | ||||||
Now, as “0 0 0” seed is supplied to customers under the designation here given, for the purpose of mixing, it is of little consequence whether it be used by the wholesale house or the retail dealer; if, however, it be employed by both, we should, indeed, get a bad sample.
As regards the seedsman’s samples in the [Tables 2] and [3], we are quite unable to give exact details of their history, but we have reason to believe that the stock whence they were taken was purchased in the ordinary course of business from different “wholesale houses,” as, though the tradesman whence the samples came combines the business of “nurseryman” with that of seedsman, we happen to know that he is not a grower of seeds, at least of turnip seeds. The average, then, of eighteen samples of turnips and swedes from this source is that 28 per cent. are non-germinating seeds. The next samples are from people in a large way of business, who are not mere retailers, but to whom we must accord all the immunities of the trade as seed-growers, wholesale and retail seed-merchants, &c.
Before giving the tables with the results as regards these samples, it is necessary to state that they were not sent to us direct, but were forwarded through a farmer to whom they were sent in the ordinary small packet samples.
We would further remark, that as all that would germinate took so few days about it, being an average of six days, whilst those of [Table 1], being seeds partly of 1859 and partly of 1860, occupied nine days, and those of [Table 2], whose date we do not know, eleven days; in all probability the seeds in question were tolerably new, most probably of the last seed season.