GRASSLAND CONFERENCE

Grey River Argus, 27 August 1937, Page 4

GRASSLAND CONFERENCE

THE SEED TRADE. The seed trade was discussed by Mr. N. R. Foy, Seed Analyst of the Department of Agriculture, in the course of a paper given before the annual conference of the New Zealand Grassland Association, at Dunedin.. Mr. Foy also dealt with the question of “bushel weight” in the sale of seeds.

Mr. Foy said that the marketing of agricultural seeds demanded not only trade integrity of the highest order, but also the exercising of considerable technical knowledge and skill, and, unfortunately, it had to be admitted that to some degree in all countries, seed was still handled by vendors who were in no sense of the term “seedsmen,” and who could pretend to no knowledge of seeds nor of their evaluation or the interpretation o* analytical or varietal data. Hence there was a need almost throughout the world for various agricultural seed. It was true that the advancement of agricultural practice, particularly in respect of grasslands, that the seedsmen were becoming specialists, in many cases in spite of themselves, and with this advance the purely commercial man was being relegnt more and more into the discard. This specialisation had become particularly noticeable in New Zealand and Australia during recent years, and could be associated with the institution of strain certification schemes, and in New Zealand particularly with a characteristic feature, the almost entire reliance of the established trade on percentages of purity and germination. It would be admitted generally that this technical bias was in the best interests, not only of the members of the trade themselves, but also of the country’s agricultural industry. In the Australian and New Zealand seed trades we had two distinct types, both of course resulting from the requirements peculiar to the respective countries and to the outlook and policy of the different Governments. Australia followed the example of most agricultural countries in providing fairly strict legislation to govern the entry of seed into Australia, and its sale within the States of the Commonwealth, whereas the position in New Zealand was unique in that although one of the foremost pastoral countries of the world, a seed-producing and exporting country, there was as yet nothing on the Statute Book which required that seed when offered for sale should conform to prescribed standards of quality, a state of affairs apparently considered to be so desirable and essential elsewhere. Yet against this was the fact that it was generally readily considered that the standard of the trade in New Zealand was on the whole a high one, and one ventured the opinion that viewed broadly it was of a higher standard than the trade of Australia. Until recently the Australian trade has been almost entirely a retail one, and it was in this trade that opportunity permits of some relaxation which could not persist in wholesale and export trading. One felt therefore that the fact that most New Zealand retailers were first wholesalers, and that as a wholesale trade was based entirely on specified value, the practice of selling on a quality basis had automatically extended to the retail trade The position outlined referred only to the established reputable wholesale and retail houses, for there were others, happily a minority, who, a r the scavengers of the established trade, dealt in low grade lines and disposed of stocks through attractively worded advertisements, and apparently .lower than at market price There were also the country storekeepers and the few dealers in rough, farmers’ dressed lines, and collectively these retailers disposed of fairly large quantities of seed, some of it of very doubtful quality, and should legislation be designed to control the sale of seeds in New Zealand ever become necessary, it would be designed to curb the activities of this type of trader.

Agricultural seed was not a uniform product, variations in one or other of its main characteristics were always to be found, and for this reason it was difficult material to standardise, especially within narrow margins. Nevertheless, standards were necessary for the industry, either those fixed by law or those arbitrary standards established and catered to voluntarily by a seed trade itself. Competition in honest seeds, honestly traded, provided an automatic control system, which, if the seedsman was educated and encouraged to take something more than a business solely for profit outlook, nearly approached an ideal system of seed distribution. There could be no question that seed-testing had instituted as a protection against sharp and fraudulent practices, but had now advanced beyond the purely protective function for the farmer to a very close association with the trade itself, in fact, a seed-testing station could almost be regarded as a component part of the trade. However, circumstances demanded th’at the services be operated by an independent body, and for that reason most of the stations were maintained by the State, whose duty it was to see that its services synchronised as closely as possible with trade movement. To-day the reliance of the legitimate trade upon percentages of purity and germination, and to a somewhat different degree upon strain certification, was almost complete; at least that was the position in New Zealand.

The question frequently arose, particularly in respect of perennial ryegrass, was bushel weight essential to an estimation of value. Did it convey. a false impression as to quality, or was it so much “hocus pocus” employed by the trade to impress and bewilder retail buyers? Bushel weight was of importance in the estimation of value and quality. It all depended on the definition of bushel weight. If weight was a measure of quality, what constituted the particular merit of a line of high weight? Were there more seeds to the pound, or. were the seeds themselves possessed of some special characteristic? In order to test this point the number of seeds per pound had been estimated for range ' of samples of certified perennial ryegrass of bushel weights rising from 251bs. to 351bs. It has been found that there was no constant relationship between bushel weight and the number of seeds per pound, and that' both were influenced by the immeasurable characteristics, weight and size of grain, that was immeasurable except by weight per bushel of grain plus glume, or more inconveniently but more accurately, by estimating the weight of 1,000 seeds. The' question must arise thep, was the weight and size of grain significant? If so, then bushel weight was an im-|

portant factor; if not, there should be no price difference between lines of low and high weight, all other factors being equal. The answer must be narrowed down to the matter of quality, and its definition in relation to seed value. A line might be of high purity and germination, good strain, and yet of poor quality, and the only determinable factor which could be used to discriminate between the quality of two lines, equal in strain, purity and germination, was bushel weight. Strictly speaking, the weight of 1,000 seeds was a more accurate and precise method of evaluation, but the two serve the requirement—a measure of quality which might be defined as “substance,” “body,” or “stamina.” It had been repeatedly shown that the plant establishment was dependent not only on the ability of the seed to germinate, but also on its ability to produce normal root and shoot, and to commence an independent existence in the soil. Under the most favourable conditions any viable seed could establish, but given unfavourable or even average soil conditions, the proportion of establishment of viable seed was dependent on the latent energy stored by the seed, the releasing of which supported the seedling through the critical period of root and shoot formation. There should be no argument against the fact that heavy, full-grained, mature seeds were more generously provided with the necessary materials to enable survival during unfavourable establishment conditions, and that the seed of a proportionately low grain weight would fail through the absence of the essential quality-stamina. It did not necessarily mean that al! seed of high bushel weight is of equally high quality. Heavily dressed, small grained lines (redressed seconds) would return a high weight and a very large number of seeds per pound, but it could not be said that such a line was of high quality. However, the size of the seed would be evident to the purchaser,- and also the reason for the high weight.

As was generally known, prices increased proportionately with bushel weight, which fact, no doubt, was the reason for the enquiry—does the buyer get more for his money? Provided the line was of normal appearance the answer is “Yes, more plant producting material, but not necessarily more seeds.” It follows that as high weight lines were worth more to grower and trader —approximately 3d per bushel for every pound increase in chrondrometer weight, over dressing of lines of average quality proved to be easy and profitable, and although the practice was not prevalent some lines return an exaggerated price to value ratio. Simply put, the position was this: for instance, a 30-lb. line contained 270,000 seeds per pound and was priced at 10s per bushel; if this line was heavily machined, the protruding, lightweighing glumes broken off, more of the seeds could be packed into a bushel measure, the weight would increase to 33 lbs., the price to 10/9 to 11/- per bushel, but the number of seeds per lb. weight remained about the same. The purchaser thus paid 9d or 17- per bushel more for exactly nothing; but in pre-certification days, a heavy weight line at 33-34 lbs. was traded as high-grade old pasture, the higher price return more than covering the additional dressing cost. The sale and use of over-dressed seed was preferable to that of lines under average weight, where the seed was very light and of pool’ quality. As a protection against the trading of this class of seed, although of satisfactory purity and germination, the continuance of the use of bushel weight was justified. A mature, wellgrown and harvested, fully machinedressed line of perennial ryegrass should weigh round 30 lbs. to the bushel—a range of 28-32 lbs. could be regarded as representative of average quality. The main contributing factor, therefore, in bushel weight, was the size and density of the grain, the number of seeds per pound being related normally not to bushel weigh! but primarily to ratio of size and weight of grain to length of glume. When weight was employed as an index value, it should be associated with a superficial examination of the seed itself, when the reasons for unusually high weight would be evident. If the seed were of average size and condition, high or low weight would be due to a high or low grain mass. If the seed were below average in size and the bushel weight exceptionally high, the reason for the abnormal weight would be evident —a dense mass of small units against a dense mass of larger units exemplified by high quality average weight. Therefore, unduly high weight, while preferable to weights below average, should be regarded with caution, unless, of course, an extremely high number of seeds per pound were desired, in which case such lines ably filled requirements. For the evaluation of seed on r weight basis, the “weight of 1,000 seeds” was the only really reliable method. It was used in some European countries, but had been displaced generally by bushel weight on account of the ease and convenience of the determination of the last named, and the easy standard interpretation of "30—31” or “331 b. seed. Nevertheless, from the point of view of application, the 1,000 seed weight had all the advantages of bushel weight, and none of the disadvantages in that whatever the contributing circumstances, immaturity of low bushel weight seed, over-dressing of average weight seed, or redressing of high weight terminal seconds, the fact was demonstrated by the 1,000 seed weight. On this basis the ideal should be the highest weight, which, incidentally, would return a lower number of seeds per pound. The highest number of seeds per pound would be returned obviously by low 1,000 weight, by lines of abnormally high or abnormally low weight.

' ROCK PHOSPHATES. The need for more critical research into the uses of rock phosphates in New Zealand was emphasised by Messrs. A. W. Hudson, of Massey Agricultural College, and J. W. Woodcock, of the department of Agriculture, in the course of a paper given before the annual conference of the New Zealand Grassland Association at Dunedin to-day. “It is a matter for regret that, in view of the importance of phosphate fertilizers to New Zealand, no serious attempt has been made to carry out a thorough and critical study of the long range effects of phosphate fertilizers on production and their fate in and effect on the soil,” they stated.” “An average soil contains about 3,000 lb. of phosphoric acid in the top 8 or 9 inches. In the course of 50 years annual applications of about 160 lbs. of Nauru phosphate or 300 lbs. of superphosphate will add a further 3,000 lbs. In districts where such quantities are being regularl’>. applied, only a fraction is being re-

moved in crops or by shock. What of the balance? For how long will such applications be necessary and remunerative? What, in the long run, is the best form in which to apply our phosphate? These are some of the questions with which we are already faced, and it is certain that the answers to these, which at present cannot, bo given, will be much more pressing in another 50 years. “The only means whereby such questions can be answered lies in the pstablishment of absolutely pea'ranent experiments under different conditions of soil and climate. Such data as is at present available in this country is 'provided by - experiments of short duration only. The weight of such evidence favours the use of

readily available phosphates. Longterm investigations may emphasise their value still further, but one must not lose sight of the possibility that other forms of phosphate may prove more desirable over a long period of years. The point is that we do not know, and it is necessary that we should obtain the information.”