AGRICULTURAL SEEDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1581, 11 March 1882, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL SEEDS.

One of the most forcible objections urged to the adoption of a better system of husbandry is the difficulty and expense entailed in procuring the seeds required pure, and the best of their kind. On a farm under alternative cropping, it is obvious a very considerable quantity and variety of these is necessary, but under existing circumstance! the prices of some pro* bibit their use to any considerable extent. It will have been noticed that the difficulty was , recognised, and a preaenjt remedy suggested, in our artioles on intermediate cropping. In making the suggestion to farmers that they shonld grow the most expensive varieties of seeds re quired from time to time in their practice, we had a further motive, , Feeling entirely assured that the climate and soil of New Zealand are specially favourable to the growth of agricultural feeds of a high standard of excellence, we are confident that the limited practise on mdi. virtual farms for Home requirements would gradually develop a new industry, and that ere much timeelapsedweshouldhaveavery consider, able export seed trade. True, we have already instanpesof attempts at seed growing, bat in theiethepbnditionsforsuooesshbve been as aruli neglected. Little * if any >: discrimination hat been exercised in selecting the original stock, nor has it been, as should be the case, considered' indispensible ■ that the land should b* absolutely* clear of weeds, and the consequence* have been that our New Zealand grown seed* are. too f recently a medley of varieties, with a considerable mixtnre of weed. The farmer complains that the seed merchant will not offer a prioe at all in proportion to that demanded in the shop ; the seedsman states with trntb that the farmer invariably pqrobases inferior seeds at low prices, rather than buy pure stock, from whioh a true sample could be grown, and argues therefore that the fault rests solely with the grower, because the purchaser of seeds can have no confidence in the article, and therefore for those in which purity and quality are essentials he must have recourse to the Home markets. Very recently in our advertising columns, an offer of locally-grown turnip seed appeared for weeks without ar.y response, and about tbe same period, we know that another sample was hawked about the city, and eventually sold at a low rate. Just at the time large orders were coming inta town for turnip seeds, but neither the parties requiring these nor the seed merohants had confidence in the lots offered by the local growers, and consequently English, grown seeds were supplied. Turnip seeds grown here, to meet a ready market, must have an assurance that they are the produce of well-shaped roots, absolutely true of their kind, and that there was no possibility of admixture or hybridization, Manifestly there must be an established confidence between the merchant and the grower to permanently establish a prosperous Industry here. In the absence of this our supplies must be drawn from importations as heretofore, because orders sent; to firms of established character in the United Kingdom are certain to be satisfactorily filled with » genuine article. For these reasons, the high prices ruling for many kinds of seeds easily grown here are inevitable. So many profits have to be realised upon them, and they finally meet such » limited di maud, that whilst the price is almost prohibitive to the farmer the returns and trade are unsatisfactory to the importer.

A glance at the London seed market reports exhibits in a. very strong light the anomaly of our dependence op importations for ohoice agricultuaal seeds. There we find that sup. pliei, in addition to the Home grown, are drawn from France, Germany, Holland, Italy, and the United States, largely for clovers, trefoil, and grass seeds ; middle and northern Europe for tares, rape, and linseed, and in the latter two lines ft very considerable trade is also carried on from India. We only enumerate the seeds whioh are commonly imported here, omitting a numerous Hat whioh could undoubtedly be cultivated with profit to our farmers were the very simple management required properly understood. Wo have, therefore, only to realise what is undoubtedly the fact, that our importations, comprising seeds grown in the oonntriea named, pass through many hands before reaching the exporter by whom they are sent to our seed merobratt, and titat 41 toe* swt bftYo t, profit In addition

to expenses, freights, and insurances ; and when this estimate is even approximately near, the came of high prices can no longer be a mystery. Regarded in another aspect, the facts are both instrnctive and encouraging. We know from aotual experience that all of the seeds enumerated have., been successfully grown and thrive vigorously here. It may certainly be claimed for New Zealand that the soil and climate are far and away superior to those of any of the countries named, and partioularly as regards evenness of temperature— an Inestimable advantage in seed growing. Our circumstances are indeed so favourable that every unprejudiced person practically acquainted with the 'subject must on re flection admit that, our position in the trade should be precisely reversed, and that New Zealand should be a Urge exporter of .» great many of the lines of seeds required in other markets. But we have perhaps the best markets in the world for surplus seeds at' onr doors, and which we may monoplise if We only exhibit sufficient skill, energy, and enterprise in the matter. Owing to the extreme heat and constantlyrecurring droughts, seed-growing in the other Australasian Colonies is so hazardous, and the produce bo. unsatisfactory, that the farmers there give the preference to imported seeds, of which those from New Zealand are by far the most highly esteemed.' In connection with this feature of the subject, we may mention as especially deserving our attention that in the agricultural reports of the returns during the recent harvest particular stress is laid on the great' sucoesa of the wheat crops in Victoria, where New Zealand seed was used. The Australian farmers have for years, given a preference to our grass seeds,' and now, when the superior germinating powers of our cereals, in comparison with theirs, is admitted, we may assume that there is something more than mere fancy in the matter, It is clear our coeds are grown under conditions more nearly approach, ing those under which cultivation is necessarily conducted in the other Colonies than seeds whioh may be obtained from Europe and America, and therefore have they proved more suoceisful with the .Australian farmer and grazier. In proof of tthe estimation in whioh New Zealand grass seeds are held in Victoria, we may state that last season very large orders were sent here, forvarious sorts of these, but whijh.were not obtainable! pure, although considerable quantities, of spurious mixtures were on hand at the time.