GROWING SEEDS

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 42, 18 February 1918, Page 3

GROWING SEEDS

The question of growing seeds in the Dominion was discussed at great length at! a conference held in Wellington last week, between the Board of Agriculture and the National Efficiency Board. Mr. Brown, Director of the Fields Division, and Mr. Cockayne, Biologist, of the Department of Agrioalture, joined in the discussion as to what might be done in this direction. Mr. Cockayne pointed out that the practicability of obtaining seeds depended largely on the duration of the .war, and the unsettled period that might follow, but it was evident that the difficulty of securing adequate supplies at the present time was very acute, and it was quite likely that,prices for such seeds would remain high for some time after hostilities had ceased. Various members of the Board of Agriculture detailed their experiences in the growing of seeds, and expressed the opinion that in spite of the competition of Europe .this branch of farming may be made a very remunerative one. It was decided to request the Department of Agriculture to publish some more information in the Journal of Agriculture as to the best methods of growing and collecting the particular kinds of seeds for which there was a demand in the Dominion. It was also agreed that the Government should be recommended, for the purpose of encouraging the growth of red clover seed, to import a number of the very best class of bumble bee, particularly the red-tailed bee and one known as the bronze bee.