Saprogenesis - Part of the life. of a disease producing organism in which it is not directly associated with a living host contrasts with pathogenesis.

Savanna - Tropica or sub tropical grassland with scattered trees, either as individuals or in clumps. Often a transitional phase between true grassland and forest.

Sawflies - A family of insects which derive their name from the sawlike ovipositor which is used to lay eggs in twigs, leaves or blossom. The caterpillars of the apple sawfly; Hoplocampa testudinea, feed on the core and seed of the growing apple.

Scab - 1. A skin disease of animals characterised by scales or pustules in patches, especially one caused by mites. Also called mange.
2. A fungal disease of various kinds of fruit and vegetables, causing the growth of scaly crusts, e.g., Common Scab of potatoes (Streptomyces scabies) and apple scab (Venturia inequalis).

Scabies - An infectious skin disease caused by a parasitic mite (Sarcoptes scabei) which affects farm livestock and man and results in severe scratching. Commonly called itch.

Scalper - Seed processing machine designed to use the bulk of trash from seed so as to facilitate elevating and processing operations. It is fabricated with a vibrating or rotating screen or sieve.

Scaly Leg - A disease of poultry caused by a mite, in which hard scales develop on the unfeathered parts of the legs accompanied by irritating itchiness.

Scarification- Process of mechanically scaring or roughing the hard seed coat to make it more permeable to water.

Scarifier - A cultivator, the action of which breaks up and stirs the soil without turning it over. Also called scuffler.

Scarp Slope - A short steep slope to one side of a line of hills (e.g., North Downs) , as distinct from the long, gentle dip slope to the other side.

Scours - Diarrheoa in livestock, a symptom of a variety of diseases.

S crag - 1. The neck of a sheep.
2. A lean or skinny animal.

Scrapie - A fatal, neurological disease which affects most breeds of
sheep. Sheep display uncharacteristic behaviour (i.e., suddenly leaving the flock), become increasingly nervous as the disease progresses, tremble and go into convulsions. When robbed they make chewing and nibbling movements. At a later stage rubbing against walls or posts increases and large areas of skin are exposed which become ulcerated by repeated nibbling. Death occurs after a few weeks or months of the first symptoms.

Scratch - A term for two light furrows ploughed to mark the setting out or opening of a plot, which form the base of the first two furrows (the crown furrows). Also called scribesod.

Screw - A Broken-Winded horse.

Scrub - 1. An undersized or inferior animal.
2. A stunted tree. Also an area of such trees, bushes, low shrubs and brushwood.

Scud. Winder- An old type of hedging tool.

Scur - A loose, horny knob that sometimes develops in homed cattle at the size where a horn would normally grow. Also called snag.

Scutching - The breaking up of flax stems after retting in a mill using a special turbine which separates the long and short fibre.

Scythe - A hand implement with a long wooden handle with two hand grips (nibs), bearing at its lower end, fixed at right angles, a large gently curved blade. Used for mowing by sweeping it through the vegetation. Sometimes spelt sithe.

Seams - The angles or shaped sections of the slice turned over in ploughing where they touch each other.

Season - 1. One of the four climatic divisions of the year, e.g., spring.
2. The oestrus or 'heat' period of a female animal.
3. To prepare a seed bed.

Second - To hoe between row of rootcrops which have previously been subjected to singling.

Scrutch - To rub the rotted stems of flax, hemp, or other fibre crop with a comblike instrument so that the stems are broken and the fibres laid bare for further processing.

Second Cut - The second crop or cut of grass taken from a field in a season for hay or silage.

Seconds - Those grains of a cereal crop intermediate in size betweenthe largest ones (head corn) and the smallest ones (tail corn)threshed out during harvesting with a combine harvester.

Sedges - A large family of grass-like plants (Cyperaceae), particularly the genus Carex. They are distinguished from grasses by having a solid, usually triangular, stem, and one scale beneath each flower (grasses have two ).Flowering heads are greenish, brownish or purplish. Sedges are common in wet or badly drained areas and are regarded as weeds.

Seed - 1. A reproductive structure of flowering plants, conifers and various other plants. It develops from a fertilized ovule and comprises an embryo and a food reserve contained in a protective coat or testa.
2. To sow seeds of a crop in a field.

Seed Barrow - A hand pushed or tractor mounted implement used for sowing seeds, consisting of a long narrow box with a perforated base, mounted laterally on a wheel barraw like frame with a single wheel. The seeds were brushed through the holes. Also called shandy barrow.

Seed Bed - An area of land or a field cultivated to a level, fine tilth, in which seeds are sown.

Seed Blowers - Mechanical device by which weight is removed by blowing.

Seed Borers - Many insects bore into seeds, either to feed on them or to lay their eggs in them. Some attack fresh growing seeds: other dried seeds such as stored grain. Chalcid wasps bore holes in seeds with their long ovipositors and deposit eggs inside larvae already present within the seed. Codling Moths such as Laspeyresia pomonella by there eggs on leaves and flowers of apple tree and the newly hatched eaterpillars bore into the developing seeds; weevils such as the Grain weevil and the Bean weevil use their snouts for boring onto dried seeds.

Seed-borne Diseases - Those plant diseases which may be transmitted from one generation to the next, either within or on the surface of seeds, e.g., many fungal diseases.

Seed Certification - Maintaining and making available to the public, the seeds of high quality and superior propagating materials so as to ensure genetic identity.This is achieved through continuous inspections of fields and seeds and by regulations for checking on the production, harvesting and cleaning of each lot of seeds.

Seed Cleaning - The removal from seed, usually by machine, of impurities such as weed seeds, broken leaves, insects, etc.

Seed Cum Fertilizer Drill - Seed drill fitted with fertilizer dropping attachment, distributes the fertilizer uniformly on the ground.

Seed Corn - A cereal grown to provide grain for seed.

Seed Disinfection - Ridding the seed surfaces of organisms which are potentially disease producing.

Seed Dressing - The chemical treatment of seeds, particularly cereals, with fungicides and sometimes insecticides, to protect them against soil and seed borne diseases and pests. A dye may be added which enables treated seed to be distinguished.

Seed Drill - A tractor mounted or trailed machine which sows seeds in rows. It consists of a seed hopper incorporating seed metering units which are generally driven by gearing or chains from the land wheels. These units, which are adjustable to suit various seed size and sowing rates, transfer the seed from the hopper down coulter tubes to a groove cut in the soil by coulters. Drills for cereals and grasses normally sow the seed at random, while precision drills used mainly for sugar beet and vegetable crops, place individual seeds at specific pre-set intervals in the rows. The feeding mechanisms that are available include:

Seed House - A commercial company providing seed varieties for crop production.

Seed Inoculation - The dressing of seeds of leguminous plants with a culture of nitrogen fixing bacteria, usually when the soil is deficient in the bacterial strain appropriate to the legume concerned and would otherwise restrict root nodule formation.

Seed Leaf - A cotyledon.

Seed Potato - Relatively small tubers, usually 32 to 57 mm (1¼ 2¼)in diameter. Produced from approved parent material under the statutory certification scheme administered by the respective agricultural department the countries. Growing crops of 'seed' are officially inspected for health, purity and vigour prior to certification. Two categories of 'seed' are certified, viz, (a) Basic Seed, used mainly for multiplying further as 'seed', and (b) Certified Seed, used for the production of crops of Ware Potatoes.

Under the Seed Potato Regulations, grading is within the following categories, some of which have specified levels of tolerance of disease, particularly viruses.

Basic seed: