VALUE OF CERTIFIED SEED

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 142, 12 March 1938, Page 7 (Supplement)

VALUE OF CERTIFIED SEED

Pasture Establishment

PROBLEMS OF MIXTURES

An old adage, particularly applicable to pasture establishment, is: "Don’t spoil the ship for a ha'p'orth o' tar.” When sowing down a pasture on land worth from £2O to £4O an acre, or more, the “saving” of 5/- an acre on the seed mixture may largely spoil the ship. A striking instance of this occurred in the Wairarapa last autumn. A farmer there bought some perennial rye at 9/6 a bushel, and “saved” 1/- on another line offered at 10/6. Not till after sowing did he discover that the bought seed had a very low germination test, whereas the dearer seed had tested out at 92 per cent. ■ ' '

Seed is not to be wisely bought on price alone; its quality is all- important. Last January a Waikato man, who is breaking in a lot of country, visited Hawke’s Bay and bought a big quantity of seed, exthreshing mill. He inspected the pasture from which the seed came, and. found it good, and made what he considered an excellent purchase at 4Jd. a lb., the equivalent'of 9/- a bushel. At first hearing that sounds splendid. There are, however, several catches in this. For one thing, seed ex-mill is not the real machine-dressed; only about 75 per cent, of ex-mill feed is so, on a good sample. Therefore, the 9/- a bushel was really costing him 12/-, and doubtless contained many impurities. Finally, such ex-mill seed. does not necessarily contain a sound, suitable mixture. It may contain an excess of dogstail or clever, for example, on the happiest turnout. For myself, except on very secondclass country perhaps, 1 would not sow ex-mill seed. One really does not know what one is putting down. Even though there is an apparent economy, it is false economy. Germination Tests. No seed should be purchased without knowledge of its germination test. The true purpose of purchasing is to purchase grass plants, not, just seeds, A seed sample is to be valued solely on i‘s germinating seeds; the "dead” ones do not count. For example, 90 per cent, seed at 10/- a bushel is cheaper than 80 per cent, seed at 9/-. The way to calculate the relative value is to multiply the seed price by 100 and divide the sum obtained by the germination figure. Thus, is the case of the SO per cent, seed at 9/a bushel: Multiply the 9/- by 109 equals 900/-; divide this by the 80 and the return is 114/-; or 11/3 per bushel, costed on a full germination basis. It is by no means advised that lower germinating seed be not purchased. We cannot all have the 95-98 per cent, seed; the 75-80 per cent, seed must be used, and it is good, useful seed too. Such seed may be rightly purchased, provided it is correctly valued. Work out the comparative merits of lines offered, on a germination basis. For myself, I expect a slight discount on this, for taking the lower germinating seed. It is noted from a pasture seeds price list supplied by a prominent North Island firm that allowance has been made for germination of seed. Two Hawke’s Bay lines are quoted. One, of 99 per cent, purity at 17/6, has 87 per cent, germination. Another, of 99.5 per cent, purity, at 11/6, has only 64 per cent, germinaTbese prices work out at 20/11 and 18/1 i a bushel on a 100 per cent, germi nation cost. The lower testing seed shows a 10 per cent, discount. Both are certified commercial perennial rye. Certified Seed. Recently I visited Ruakura Farm, near Hamilton. There I saw some pasture trials, laid down in certified and uncertified seeds. On the evidence before my eyes the value of certified seed was demonstrated beyond all doubt. On the desk before me are a collection of pasture mixtures collected from manyparts of the North Island and from good farmers. Almost without exception certified seeds are specified. Reference to last season’s certification records shows that there was only a moderate amount of seed certified and evidently great areas in the aggregate are still sown in uncertified seeds. There is room here for improvement. Five grasses and clovers, of North Island importance, were certified as follows :— Perennial rye—l3o,9oo bushels equals 150.0(H) acres.' Cocksfoot—334,ooolb. equals 40,000 acres. Italian rye—l2,soo bushels equals 12,000 acres. White clover —461,0001 b. equals 100.0(10 acres. Red clover —28,0001 b. equals 8000 acres. The average estimate allows something for export. Broadly speaking, the supply ■ of certified seed was sufficient for approximately 100,000 acres. That would provide for complete pasture renewal in 100 years, which is too long. We need much more certified seed and at a lower price. , Using the best of seed, a good type of permanent pasture sown a.t 401 b. an acre only* costs 55/- to-day. 'lhat is a big price. . , I have just calculated the. present cost of a 611 b. acre mixture of best quality

seed, recommended from .Southland; the seeds cost is 62/4 an acre. With seed now so dear there is a strong* desire to make economies. Ihe desire is commendable, but do not economise on the quality of seed used. Better by far to sow less of good seed than a greater weight of poorer seed. There is a good deal said of 50 to 601 b. sowings. Without being dogmatic, I believe that considerably lighter sowings will do the job. Two properties whose pastures RTe justly prized are sown at 37 and 3Jlb. an acre. They are in the Waikato and Manawatu, almost 300 miles apart. The writer has successfully laid down peiinanent pastures at 36ib. an acre. The *proper preparation of the seed-bed and sowing at the right time are worth many, many pounds of seed. The Mixture Problem. The basic pasture plants on good country are perennial rye, cocksfoot and white clover. These go in almost all mixtures. There are then subsidiary grasses and clovers whose choice depends upon local conditions. Dealing with the three major plants, a general recommendation may be made. Sow these at 181 b. of perennial rye. 91b. of cocksfoot and 2 to 31b. of white clover. These total 29 to 301 b. Make up the balance with other seeds as thought fit.

On heavy land, meadow foxtail, timothy, alsyke and red clover may well find a place. On lighter land, dogstail, red clover and subterranean clover are of value. Over all, from 4 to 51b. of clovers should go in. Assuming a 381 b, an acre sowing, that leaves 33 to 341 b. for the grasses. Allowing 181 b. for perennial rye, the balance is 15 to 161 b. Cocksfoot takes, say, 91b., and the rest can have the balance of 6 or 71b. In some cases the total sowing can be put up to 401 b. by bringing in 8 to ]olb. of Italian rye. . , In all but exceptional cases dogstail is best limited to one to two pounds an acre. Timothy can be sown at 2 to 41b. on land with a rainfall exceeding 36 inches. It does best on rich moist soil. Cocksfoot should be kept up to Sib. in all cases, and I believe this seed could well be raised to 10 and perhaps 121 b. with advantage. It does well on almost all soil, types, from damp to dry. An adequacy of clovers is essential to good rye production, an well as for their own value as feed producers. Some seed mixtures appear to me as being unduly light in clover content.