PURITY OF SEED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14213, 14 May 1908, Page 9

PURITY OF SEED

ITS IMPORTANCE TO FARMERS. In the course of an interview yesterday with a Daily Times reporter, Mr A. H. Cockayne, of the biological division of the •Agricultural Department, said t.hat during tho past season Mr T. W. Kirk, Government biologist, had been paying speoial attention to the preparation of an exhaustive collection illustrating tlio impurities to be found in agriculurnl seeds, both colonial and imported. This collection is to bo shown at tho forthcoming winter show of the Otago A. and P. Society, and should help in showing farmers the necessity for feed of the highest quality, and that which shows the least number of impurities, only being used. When it is considered, said Mr Cockayne, that 1 per cent, of impurity in a stmplo of grass seed is suffioient to produce 30 to 40 plants to every square ya,rd of ground, it is very obvious that, purity of seed should be a sine qua nan of tho farmer. The collection, besides showing ommples of nearly all tho imparities to bo found, also has a series of most interesting sets of grass seeds, showing both tho seed in bulk ami tho seed with the impurities reto. iiwu "ties being placed Bide bj

sido with tiro pure sood, so (hat; tho per« centago of impurities may bo at onco seen. Mr Kirk lias for many years urged tho ' use of only tho highest grado seed, bilt, unfortunately, many of the farmers of the Dominion have pursued a "penny wise, •> pound foolish" policy. It. must bo remcmbred that, when poor and impure seed is used, tho difference in cost, between it and high grado samples only represents a few shillings per aero, and tho ultimate result is that tho farmer who goes in for the low grado seed obtains a woedv pasturo of low stock-oarrying capacity, whereas, if ho had used high grado seeds his land would • naturally be very much more productive, and therefore mora remunerative. Tho importance of tho matter, continued Mr Cockayne, can bo at onco gauged when wo consider what work has been done in other countries outside of Now Zealand. Tho system of the great seed control stations in Europe, and tho work of tho experimental stations of the United Stales of America, liavo dono much towards tho amelioration of farm seeds. Thirty yeara ago tho agricultural Eoeds nsctl 1 in Europo were very impure, but that has now boon ■ altered by tho work of the' seed control departments, which liavo fixed- a standard of germination and of purity, and so enabled tho farmer to choose a sood of firstgrado quality. Questioned as to the method to he adopted' by farmers in ordor to secure the best results from seod sown, Mr Cockayne said that an important point, to boar/ in mind was tltat the wholo of tho seod field should consist, of pure cultures of a. singlo spocics. Thie, lie eaid, was m marked contrast to the land used in Now Zealand for grass seed purposes, which, in many) oases, was surface-eown ground, and naturally l«nded lo a mixed herbage. The. oonBoquonoo of ibis was that Now Zealand seeds required to bo macliino dressed much moro thoroughly than did imported seeds. A great deal of work dealing with the commercial valuo of agricultural seeds has been dono in tlie dopartmoirt'a laboratory during tho past season, and a "bulletin may shortly lx> expected dealing with tlio' sub- 1 ject. This bulletin, said tho raprcsentativo of the biological division, will ljo copiously illustrated with sood impurities, and front them farmers will be able to identify any . undesirable alien that may bo present in tlie sample sent forward for his use. The collection will be shown at tho . various winter shows throughout. Now Zealand, and it is liopod that it will arouso interest in tho matter of ipurity of seed culture. Farmers should bo particularlyinterested because it is pointed out now, and it "has been emphasised ovAr and oyer again, that all our dangorous weeds, wbicl> are year by year lessening the value of our pastures, aro attributable to badly-clcaried seod having been used ro the first instance.