AN INTERESTING CASE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9228, 29 June 1912, Page 5

AN INTERESTING CASE.

.i —*— ' TODAY'S EVIDENCE. (Continued fioin page 2.) The Supicme Com I losumed at 10 o'clock this morning, when the hearing was restim ed of the caso in which Ellis Bros, of Bull- ; jjipd Hodder and Tdlley for £617, r the \aluu of i consignment of glass sad fiom p jmtitls to defendants Evidciuo , wab called In Mi Louglinan for plaint.lK ■n lobuttai William Rankin Bernie, seedsman, of , aiding, stated, aftoi elimination ol . s f m W> pioduced,. that tins soason ■ ll. u . ■ . W ke ? seed : showed;ii highe^perceiiiagaof ; \ germinating powers and ; height■"'■ . Per busic than the'lighter coloured-seeds.' - ' ■;; l,^■^ Loolfa y ne^'6overny, nt•vßi6lrigißt■^t6 , W;Departmwit,pf denco as to haying;examined ' • and sampled; it.' .FroriKtheVsahiple a-defi- ; 'flite:. quantity,, was:;weighted,' tho- amount" ■•■•.'■ weighed ibeing■ 500 grains, •equalling;l-i4th ■■.:'■ of one .pound. ■.:■ The 500 grain ;sa-mplo" was .: carefully examined. M found; to' contain ; : w. swed;verts-siecfe-;; As the'sample was " , ut -ir f .?:.%' ono -P°W d would whtain • W;tnultiplicd,by 68, pv,952: S eed^bf"sweet' '■ vernal'per. pound.' That v \vbiS r .glvo'= : a ■ percentage of • sweet vernal,v ; taking'-i Mr V" otdpgstai; of less than "" -per-cent^of• in v " other words the percentage of sweet : vernal ; .' Was HUtlrof one per .'cent., \fhis would ' : give Oiopunty.of the. steed,;so'fa.r ; as sweet ■ "' vernal, was .concerned, :o f. 99.9: pb r : cent: ■ ■ (Hher. impurities would not ; mab the .total impurities p f the sample as much -as r per ' cent. Roughly the:examination was ; mado'' of aboiit .50,000 seeds, which; was; a . very ■ much fairer, amount-to take; thanafmailer quantity,'; say, of: 500: seeds; -During tlie'.:; year. Ins-- laboratory, had "examined 42 different .lines; of dogstfiil 'grown iri the Manawatu district, and/in'no'caso did the ■ impurities exceed.one • per: cent in numoere. 'ln no part of the world whe'rb dog's-: '.:■"'. tail was ; produced, such as in!lreland.'the '.-:. Netherlands, Seliieswig, Ifolstoin -'Eiig- ■' land and S>vitzorland, was tho of. die seed so. high as it was iiiNcw.Zoa'land ?rown, seeds. Out of; 246 samples'of seed ixanuned in Europe tho mean, puritv was .' 31.5.and tho .mean,-germination';■ 83"> per , .'Bnt,. while tho"maximum, purity was 99,6 md.tho.'maximum:germination was 97 per ' ?snt. Thus they could see that' tho samplo cammed-by him on May: 10. and of which ;i: report; wag submitted, compared : most favourably with the' highest; grade samples obtainable in •Europe. Sweet, vornal was. .ised in European countries for sowing, on :' > xuldocks to be out'for hay. It'was much ! ■ iked by farmers there, on account of tho '" tragranco omitted both: from the 'dry' and' • tho green grass. .It did. not, really itii-: :<i'ovo hay, but made it niore palatable to stock. In tho early days in ; Ne\y Zca■■'atul sweet'vernal'was 1 regularly 'used in ■: general .mixtures • for .grass lands-. Tho 'iay crops here'being' "small,"."however,, sweet vernal ' was Eoon:dropped iut of general mixtures; and it. was now looked upon a« of .little- value. in a pasture that ..vas capable of growing the. so-called high ;lass English grasses e uc!i aY cocksfoot, :,- timothy,' meadow foxtail; and (he 'like:''. 'ln. tho. Manaivatu district sweet- vernal iad been a- common the past-'': * '-.ires for-many.yea^'pasf^.andjt'was'.but : .I'atural that .crested dogstail ■ harvested in this /.district should: contain s\veet vernal js an impurity, In simples ho had eximinqtl during the pas L.season quite < 70 per cent had contained sweet vernal, and - if yhcvsamules had beeii larger, ut Was quito.. ' probable that sweet .vernal would have ' -leon found in all'of them. Sweet vernal ■vas not-ranked as a'noxious ;\veed acoord'ng.to the Noyionisj..Weeds"Act.'-.Witness'-ml down tho colour of Ellis Bros'.' seed ; .is tho average colour of 1912 seed, which pad been properly matured. Colour must; have somo definite'value.'lo.-;seed as to bo . •vortli consideration -at: •all. : Colour was -• isod very largely as a superficial method if, ascertaining : ,whether tho' scecl' >was dkely. to grow. 'Whe're : a'-germination'. -iad ■' been made and : found '■■ satisfactory :olour could bo disregarded, and-was dis- '■■ ■regarded-in all those'coiinkies'wlicroboth .;he merchants and fanners: bought their :eed on a dofinit..' guarantee of germination and purity. Throughout' the whole of Europe, seed was bought,- not on sample, out on a guarantee, and if'the guarantc . «is not correct , tho seller. - Avas ' liable: ■ Jolour > was not taken .into iml was only, the lazy man's 'mothod'-.iif iscertaining w'hether it was reliable. By Mr- Myers f Witness ranked sweet rernal as an inferior grass, and in -'dogstail Jid not consider; it: any wo,rso than; say, :atijcar.;' .It had not becri. tho practice in this country to give warranties .-with' seed. "A. J. Palmer' stated ..thai he had treated .ill, the dogstail. that ■ came' to-him to be cleaned during the/past : few years in. the same way. . He had a special process with \vhich bettor results'than usual were obtain-■;

:<1 for the fanner. L. A. Abraham, of ißarraud and A bra-, •lam, Ltd., stated that, there had been " a ma,terial increase in the quantity of dogstaii . J town during the past ;few .years., In 1910 . . about 50 tons of dogetilil weep- grown- iri Maiiawatu district.;. In 1911, this was. very ! '■ nncli increased, and he purchased about 75tons, , his firm taking practically the whole pf the dogstaii grown in the district.' Ho . had purchased early in order to. sell in Now Zealand and to induce farmers to buy New Zealand seed instead of seed, grown at Home. As a result, last season .a number, if firms went round and imulc contracts for :arge areas, the . seed 'being purchased at sowing ..lime;!' .Consequently. tliero had been ail Qyer-ploduction, and hence the trouble in regard to quality,' etc. ■' • • After, examining some of theisced produced lie stated he would, say it was; a" first-class ■ iiimplo of 1912. seed. New Zealand seed did , not con'ain so many , impurities as seed, . from Europe, as it was "better , dressed. Colour was only-an indication of the quality jf the seed. If .it were a- fine ripe seed the : colour showed it, and if it had Iwen allowed to get wet., it was shown in the'.; colour. • Colour would help anyone who knew anything of sped to decide as to its germinating, quality. The bulk'pf'the. dogsta.il seed sold '.in<;Now. Zealand was for agricultural':: purposes. .Dogstaii for commercial purposedwas ■ used as part of a ■ mixture, - "' • ' - v: ''By'Mr'Myers: This year all he had purchased was about; 35 tons of a total of .some 250 tons. Tlit) other firms had not fore- ■ •stalled him this year; as a matter of fact, he had sent sellers of seed'to''otlw firms, (is he would not dream of buying seed be- ' fore it was sown. : . • (Left Sitting,)