DISHONEST SAMPLES

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 165, 6 April 1908, Page 2

DISHONEST SAMPLES

1 ' STATEMENT BY AN ANALYST. ' J ~ An 'Auckland Press Association ' message 3, says that tho question of the manner in (■ which the farmer is defrauded in the pur- > chase of seed was brought up at. a meeting of 5 the Auckland Agricultural Association on j Friday. _. ■I'Mr. J. Massey, the ; president, said that there had been a vast quantity of grass seed coming to Auckland' which - was of very irifeior quantity. Mr. Yates, of the firm of Arthur-Yates T and Co., said ho had, made a test of ; the. - cocksfoot sample before the meeting. To the 5 casual observer it looked to be .a very fair > sample, but on examination it proved to be comprised of only . 57 per-cant. of. genuine cocksfoot,, 29 per cent; of rye-grass, and the roriiainder was simply waste. j Mr. Pond, Government Analyst, gave ail 5 interesting statement regarding 'tho germina- • tion power of seed he had analysed. Ho gave a simple illustration of the; best way to test t the .sample. It'was, lie said, only natural that seedsmen,.should refuse to take any responsibility when selling seed, but ho''contended' that the sellers should make tests .. such as he. had just demonstrated,: and then 5 give the result's to the farmer when lie made his purchase. Tho farmer would then have a , hotter idea of. the worth of the seed ho was • buying. ! • . Mr. Robert Hall said that in the North the j question of pnro seed was a very serious one, 3 ' since large areas were being -put down every .year in permanent pasture. • i Mr.. Massey; contended that this question was more serious than would be; generally realised. List season ho knew of a case in which a farmer had received a parcel of • cocksfoot which only germinated 10 per cent. Mr. Garland said the sample before them was a very bad one. There were a dozen . " foreigners " in the sample he had, and the percentage, of genuine cocksfoot was very . light indeed. It was resolved to forward to the Department of Agriculture a'sample of the seed in question, and ask for a Government analysis. ■ - A vote of; thanks was passed to Mr. Pond for his attendance.