CERTIFIED SEEDS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 268, 27 October 1932, Page 11

CERTIFIED SEEDS

export' trade possible. DEPARTMENT’S VALUABLE WORK. The possibility of building up a lucrative trade overseas in certified New Zealand seeds is mentioned in the annual report of the Department of Agriculture presented to the House of Representatives. Crop certification is one of the very valuable services being carried on by the officers of the department. By this service superiority of type or strain is guaranteed. Certified seed of all the crops under certification —perennial rye-grass, white clover, red clover, cocksfoot, brown top, potatoes, beans, and wheat—commands a premium price, states the report, and both growers and buyers are keenly alive to the advantages of certification. In the case of certified grass and clover seeds, there is a growing inquiry from overseas and it is hoped that within a very few years a lucrative export trade will be developed. “Demonstrations! work carried out throughout New Zealand,” continues the report, “has definitely shown the great superiority of the special strains of rye-grass, white clover and cocksfoot that are now eligible for certification so far as permanence and herbage firoduction are concerned, and there is ittle doubt that special strain certified grasses and clovers will finally alone be used in the establishment of New Zealand pastures. It has long been recognised that pedigree in grasses aful clovers is just as important as in livestock and in ordinary crops, and the certification methods now adopted are enabling the New Zealand grassland farmer to improve the yield and permanency of his grassland to an astonishing extent. ” After showing that the areas eligible for certification had greatly increased over those dealt with during the previous year, the report states that for eight months of the year, 70,000 bushels of rye-grass seed has been machinedressed and finally sealed as certified seed. This was a large increase over the previous year’s operations, when 40,000 bushels were machine-dressed during the whole season.