Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

THE NECESSITY FOR USING GOOD SEEDS.

In various parts of Canada and the j United States efforts are being mad© to (

1 interest the farmers in good seed, and towards this end/ a suggestion wss nrade^ --•fecJently by the] Seed- Commissioner of ,tM> Ontario Agricultural College that a faTmer with a half s-ectioji should reserve each year not less than 10 acres of the best and cleanest wheat on his farm until it i becomes fully matured, when it should be harvested andsstorsi separately to keep.; i a| a base of supply of xnxre < wb.e t at~f<n*^ , 'Kis general prop succeeding' year. i'^B?^ i- wouM pay. him handsomely^ said' tKe. Coin--* ' .Uiiseioner, to take special- paine to^'main-' j tain purity of variety and to vaise the 1 standard ot vigour and productiveness in liis base of supply. In this way, by raising strong, vigorous pknts, a farmer v could do more to prevent smut than by i depending on questionable seed, which started into life handicapped by * a dccc ] of bluastone, which. I'edttces the vigour of the plant. In Canada wheat-growing is ' t carried on in a very large way, so that | any advice or suggest ions made by those • qualified to direct are always welcomed iin that progressive Dominion. About I four yeava ago a ssrious outbuiakvof smut j in the wheat crops of Manitoba and { Alberta and an alarming increase of j weeds caused great loss to the 'g'rain- | growers in those province?. The vice- | president of the Canadian Pacific rail#ky 1 suggested to the Government that especial 1 traiws should be utilised' for the purpose , ot making a special educational campaign 'oa the seed question. Arrangements were I finally completed by -which- the railway i companies provided trains. ,hauled them j over their lines without charge, making 1 stops of one hour of more at the various : centres ; while ths Seed Commissioner advertised the meetings, equipped the lecj tur-e cars with material for demonstration i lectures, and took full charge of the educa- ! tional work throughout. It is worthy of ■ note as bein.g dissimilar to this Dominion ! from the fact that the farmers in that ! country did not ask .the railway com- > panics to undertake this -work, but the ■ railway authorities voluntarily suggested , it themselves recognising that the im- ■ provement of seed meant heavier crops, I which would result in mo-re freight lor their trains. A very large number of meetings were held in connection with : these seed special trains between January and March, from three to five meetings < being held each day, with an average attendance of 140. Lacluves were given on j the various phases of- th® eeed question, ' on weeds and' their eradication, the best j methods of preventing smul, and espei cially with regard to the benefits tnat i result frarr the systematic use of selected i seed. As an illustration of -what it is ; po-sible to accomplish by seed selection two samples of Joanette oats were shown • which had been grown at the Ontario Agricultural College. One of them was dark in colour, plump in sizo. and heavy in weight; the oilier, a ooor sample, was light in cciour, with i few black specif meiits scattered through it, all thin and •' apparently nearly all husk, and little better than wild oats. These two samples j were not only the same variety, but .vere brown the i-ame sea'Kjn within 10ft of each oth-er under similar conditions. The black, strong sample weighed 351b per bushel, and yielded' 94 l>ushe!* pei acre; the inferior sample weighed' 241b per bushel, and yjeldet 67 biwhpls to the acre. The sample vhich yielded 94 bushels per acre had hec-n. giOMn 12 years in bucceesion from heavy, plump seed. The other sample \^as obtained by selecfj ing for 12 years in succession from tho i saute fop -eed that was light 'n weight j and colour, with the result th.it every year the crop had been getting smaller and the quality growing poorer. The farmers in that part ol the world were sakl to hive taken great interest in these specimens, and were more convinced of the benefit of seed election after examining them than they would have been by reading pages of literature on the subject. Jn America the *>eed question is also being carried out systematically, and at various experimental stations the subject of frosfi fertilisation is receiving close atj tention with a view to combining the good qualities of different varieties. The lecturers there urge that every farmer should 'arrange to have a small patch of ground on which he coulJ groV th-3 seed he re- , quired for hi« main crop, towing only plump, well-jratured grain, collected from vigoious plants, grown und-er the most ! favourpbb conditions. They further impie.-.^ upon grain -growers the importance j of giving their wheat and oat crops tha ' j-;.mp attention in the motter of care and { selection that they devote to their live [ stock, w-hich ir> «sjrely very good and nracj licil athirp. As a result of what is being done in the United State-; and Canada, W3 are tolJ that the mannfnetur-ej'cs are j with difficuliy able to cope with the de- | nwnrl for stcd-tleaniny machinery. One has oi'ten hcud the renrirk marie that lie i who tan cau=e two V>lades of gra^s to I grow where one grew befoie de-erves well of his coun'ir\, md the same phra e e i« eqii; ily ajiplicafjie in tne grov.'iig of giain. IT by .selection and other means of dealing with cereal crops, as already shown, the yield per acre can be increae-ed by nearly 25 per cent., «urely it behove.- the farmers of 2Ccw Z«falan<l to urge that more practi- . cal work in thir, direction should be tin- ' dertaken h}' the agricultural exi^ei'imental station- of this Dominion. 1

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW19091117.2.16.2

Bibliographic details

Otago Witness, Issue 2905, 17 November 1909, Page 4

Word Count
967

THE NECESSITY FOR USING GOOD SEEDS. Otago Witness, Issue 2905, 17 November 1909, Page 4

THE NECESSITY FOR USING GOOD SEEDS. Otago Witness, Issue 2905, 17 November 1909, Page 4

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert