WHITE CLOVER SEED.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 288, 9 January 1915, Page 2

WHITE CLOVER SEED.

ITS ADUIiTERATIGrf.

The. use of impure seed, is the most serious economic mistake in agricultural operations, and much of. this, waste iscaused by failure, of the farmer to .study tile question as a simple business- proposition.. The true value of. an article is generally indicated by the price at which it is offered for sale. If a low price is asked it should be obvious that, I generally speaking, there is some reason, [■for. tllis which is not disclosed to the purchaser. The farmer who looks for [cheap seed I—and 1 —and- his class is, unfortu[nafeely, large—should at least know just ! what he is buying, when, if he has any business capacity,, he will probably realise that what is cheap art first sight isbound to prove actually very dear in the end. The seed of white clover, generally the most impure of all seeds, is a ease in point. It is not .uncommon in lines of fair quality to find from lo to> 20 per cent, of-extraneous seeds,, con'sisting mainly of those of various pasture weeds. Such seed' is manifestly very bacUyi cleaned, but the impurities ais& merely those harvested with- the crop and have not been- added?, to the line. It is the blending' ajad adulteration, of white-clover-seed; so frequently practised, w T hich constitutes the great weakness in clover-seed- operations. The : highest" grade of white J elover seed 1 has a -purity of 99 per cent:, and : such seed is: the type the farmer should always employ in his sowing operations. It is- the cheapest, because it is* the- best. It may the highresfc-priced seed if judged by the pound: weight, but, gauged-' by- the number of living seeds the 1 pound contains; it is- invariably the cheapest article- on the market. BLENDING OF WHITE CLOVER.

The highest grades of white-elover Seed, comparatively speaking, are seldom found on the retail, market. This is due to the fact that the farmer appears to be unwilling to pay tie- price at which such seed can be profitably sold. He almost invariably demands a comparatively cheap seed> and in consequence the highest-grade' lines are regularly used to blend with very poor ones, and such mixed seed'is; offered retail at a price that -is considerably! lower than the wholesale price for, genuine highrgrade seed, This blending, of different' lines of white-clover seed hasbeen practised for. many years on the Continent, and is by no means uncommon in our local trade. For this con-, ditton of affairs the farmer has only himself to blame. Did he realise that the purchase of blended seed is-always a more expensive proposition thabf- the securing of the best quality, the practice would rapidly fall into abey/iaiee. The blending of .white-clover seed may be done in two ways. In the first case) a.- proportion of the highest-grade seed isj mixed with a poorly coloured line, and, the combination is- sold at an apparently cheap price, -which the ordinary •farmer is prepared to 1 pay. , Take a typical instance where the-b.uyer is unprepared to give more than, say, 1/5 a pound- foi\ his.- whiterclover seed.: If he is lucky he will secure- a. line con-> sisting of 30' peT cent, of genuine whiteektver. seed, worth 1/8 a pou-nd; and 7f)*per cent, of an inferior line, worth almost l'/2 a p/ound.' It is invariably; tie" case that the farmer thus pays more for what he' Actually requires than had he .purchased the constituents separately ah<d blended 1 them himself. Byen mixings is a business that costs money; and t|e merchant* who lias« unfortunately been forced to' adopt this price- to retain clients must necessarily proteet. himself by notf erring on the. side of liberality in. weighing out the. more, valuable seed in, making up the mixture. In fact,, the farm-, er is- deliberately encouraging a most undesirable practise, which, may easily de.velop- into a fraudulent one, and- stand's to lose in- mora ways titan, on© by the attempt to purchase a most important constituent of his, pasture mixture at a. low rate- for the sake of saving a pajtry 3d or 4d an acre in his-sowing operations. The second, method of blending-p-antf ithis is deliberately fraudulent—consists oftlie mixing of quite worthless,seconds with hrgh-gra,de' seeti. This practice is* aj common one on: the. Cdntitfent, and low-priced* German seed is x almost inr variably of* this ehajracter. ADULTERATION OF WHITE GLOVER: The practice oi adudtei'ating; white, clover seed is a common oile, and has; b!e£ji in vogue for,many years. Formerly vthe regular method was to mix the seedv -of. suckling, clover with that, of white 1 clover, and to tlien sell the mixture as. genuine seed. Th.e amount of sucklings adjled wa*s generally from 10 to' 30 per cent. In adulterated seed the weedseed's are generally carefully so that, apart from the adulterant, the line appears excellently dressed. Thus, unless the btoyetf is Well* with the differenees in appeaa-anee between ith.e genuine seed and that of the adul-. tefant, a mixed line can be purchased; under,- the impression that ijfc is , of high grade*. The main objection to-suckling clover seed as an adulterant is that its surface i;is much more shiny than is that otf jwhite Clover/ and this combined! with its" not being heart-shapedy renders its ; djeteetion in adulterated lines' a conV ;pfaratively simple matter. In* some cases White 1 clover seed" is highly polished by meehftnicaJ means; and this rewd-ers* the detection df the adulterant much mor£ difficult. This artificial polishing serves useful.purpose, and is tantamount ta :faking an animal for exhibition pur'il>Qses. During the past few years the seed of a comparatively worthless annual clover, known as the sniallfldwered clover (Trifolium parvdrtorum.),, ' has been largely Tised in Europe in adulterating white clover seed. The surface qf* the seed is duller than that of white clover, and when examined with pocket lens is seen to be studded with minute tubercles, and appears slightly crenel l - i lated in outline. The surface of white clover seed, on the contrary, is perfectly smooth. Although differing slightly in aim from that of white clover, the seed of Trifolium parvifiorum is difficult to detect in mixed lines unless the sample is carefully examined. For this reason the use of it as an adulterant has become qtiite common in the European seed trade, but, so far, few such lines have reached the Dominion, and the small-flowered clover has as yet not been added to our introduced flora. Of late years one of our introduced

."clovers, known as "clustered clover '(Trifolium giomeratum); has spread over considerable areas, notably in the- '- North* Island', and larger quantities of 'seed are frequently; extracted in the cleaning;- oft ryegrass; and* other, pasture ■ seeds. (Ulustereid clover, seed is generally 1 of a beautiful: clear yellow colour, /and, although smaller than that of white clover, it sufficiently resembles •the latter to be used as an adulterant without- much fear of. being detected .unless the line is very carefully examined. The seed is not quite so dull as is that of Trifolium parviflorum, and the surface' only slightly roughened and is not tuber-eulaied. The very close . resemblance of the ■ seed. of clustered clover tp that of white clover has already been taken advantage of by certain seed merchants, and adulterated lib.es are now quite common. During fhe past few months* a large number of .samples of white clover seed containing 'from 15 to 40 per cent, of clustered clover have been analysed by the Deapartment. This adulteration, has no justification, and", farmers are particularly advised to examine carefully any white j-claver they may be buying, in order to determine whether or not the line* is adulterated. The. presence of clustered clover helps to improve the colour of 1 .the* average white elover" sample, and, as* the colour largely determines the price, adulterated lines may be offered • at* evenv higher prices tha*n pure genuine 'seed. Tire following example shows t(K what- an extent adulteration of white -'clover-seed is > being practised in this tcountry at the present time. A line was.pjurchased wholesale at £l3O a ton. An. ,JaSa»lysis of the sample showed that, it v eiorer and 20- per cent, of snicklifoig > Jcjover. Allowing 6d per lb-- for each oJf* these, the pri'ce paM< for the«whiteclover seed itself was a shade under j 12J/- per lb. Had £-130 been> a fair priee • ,tp;pay for high-grade white elover the • 'line-under 1 discussion would have been Worth, rougjily, £§o' a ton. In. point of 'fact, good white clover was worth" at the tijne'of purchase* considerably more ; th"an £l3O a' ton; Presumably- the con- ! amount of suckling elover present was taken into ■ consideration', but : the clustered* clover was quite 1 overlooked. The- line was said- to be New Zealand grown, and 1 , apart from the ; adulterants present, was" excellently cjl&aned, proving cdnelusi\rely that the < clustered and-sucisling ftlovers ha*l been* > deliberately added with intent to -defraud the punchaiser. It is probable r ,tWt the seMer would say tliat, the line "I'fe'ing purchased oh; sample, it w«ds the . purchaser's own fault if he made a ijad bargain. This, to ai certain, extent • is true, but it in no way lessens tlye seriousness of the fraudulent practice , of selling as genuine white elover lines I that have been deliberately adulterated With seed of comparatively little value. Of course,, were the farmer satisfied duly with genuine high-grade seed, he , would have to pay considerably more a pound than if he were content with '■ inferior adulterated seed. As shown , before, however, he will in reality pay more for the actual white clover seed , in an adulterated line than whan he : secures pure genuine seed. This is clearly shown in the case cited, where ' the price paid wholesale for the white clover seed itself was 2/- a pound, or £224 a ton, a much higher figure than would be asked retail for the very finest line of white clover seed in the country. DETECTING ADULTERATION. As previously mentioned, the detection of adulteration is rather a difficult i matter to the ordinary farmer. Yet ,

were'the farmer 'to have more-conflofeHce" in his powers of observation, and study • wdth the aid of a smalE magnifying glass* his lines of seed, he -w ouloT sooir. acquire a= certain, degree of faoipg-jr-'iiv detecting and recognising at ajglibiee, impurities and adnjteranss. ""CSfhen. in <doubt he has the Department's assistance at his? command.- ' The difference; between! wMte clover seed, and its common adulterants, is clearly shown iii the illustrations which accompany this taxfc Lines. adulterated with* suckling clover • can be immediately recognised by the generally darker colour; the 1 extreme 1 shininess of the seeds', and" more rounded form of the adulterant. Tdioae to* which clustered clover seed has be,en, ad'ded can be immediately, by ' sieving the sample through a. sieve having holes of an aperature of one milHLnieter (.04rn) in diameter, whenValP the clustered, olover- seed wilt gags thivoughy. leaving the white/ clover seedt in the sieve. I would, strongly advise all seed niarchants, to. pasoeura a., siejve of this size, so that ■' selling, samples-'' may be tested •at once, for. the above, adulterant. This-, sieve will also-' be found, useful in. roughljj estimating;, tiie; amount of suckling, present, as* th» smaller seeds-of tllis-'dover pass* through*, along with those of the' elttMerw variety. "When a>, suitable sieve is. not apailable.the clustered, elovei? seeds>bp recognised by their, dull ■ sjunfiacet an& 'smaller foimi.. So far as the smaH-fionrored. cltjvear iist concerned,, the tntyereufollecl. appearance of its. surface when magnified ren--djtirs its identification comparatively, bnt;» as, stated 1 , before, lines adulterated "with, this clover are. seldom <met with in this: country. DESCRIPTIONS* (W SEEDS: , Trifolium Parviforum.—Shape: IhigjetteraE of! tlie cWßtveiiiiional ftearfcishapej. somewhat flattened, though slightly less* !t!is4L TrifohuUir repeas.. Sntffstdej Y*sri« - «a|)le in face *egulaflply»mark•ejl, with a groove rmmirtg" between the .radical'and the* cotyledon sides* Of the 'seed. It has a deeidedly dull surface, bjeing fibieiy rouglfened a»d tMclbly spudded witjr minute, tubercles... Under ' a) lens {X 12) these*tubercles* are clearly seen,, and, givej paittieularjy tq -t&eiqnitl|ne of this seed, aoi irregularity »«fc apparentl in glome-fa"tuia tHe* ©tier two-spec|ies. | Trifolium • GloineTatUTiu —Bha,pe: Incjined. to-bet heartiShapfld.'. siiies. joaie--ifhat flattened, but mores xttunrded: tka.su i-ppens and! paflvrfforuau. Stirfcwe: Of comparatively uniform' calowr; almost tjlie same sh*de ; a». tlie brigrhtest yellow speds of repens. Each face marked sjiglHSly. With a- growe. The 1 s«rffe.2e isi decidedly dullj being finely nougkened, s( character which,, together with its smaller size, facilitates its identification when mixed with repens,. the surface of which is very smooth to slightly shining. Trifolium Eepens.—Shape: In general heart-shaped and flattened. Surface: Yariable in colour, each faee usually bearing a slight groove. The surface is very smooth to slightly shining. Trifolium Minus. —Shape: Is not heart-shaped and flattened like repens and the other two species; it is oval, and its two faces are well rounded. Surface: A r ery variable in colour. Unlike the other three, its two faces are only very occasionally marked b} r a distinct groove. Its surface is naturally very highly polished. Repens, the next most shining of the four, except when artificially polished, has a very smooth rather than a shining surface. —A. H. Cockayne, in the "Journal of Agriculture. ' '