Purity of Seed.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13596, 16 May 1908, Page 3 (Supplement)

Purity of Seed.

ITS IMI'OUTAXCK TO F.UIMKISS

In the ionise- of an inU-ivicw nun an

"Otago Daily Times" reporter. Mr A. H. Cmkuyue, oE the biological division of the Agricultural Department, said that during the past seasou Mr T. W. Kirk, Government biologist, had been paying speck*! attention to the preparation o{ an exhaustive collection illustrating the imparities to Iks found in agricultural .-ieiU. boili colonial and imported. This collection i* to Ik - trliown at> the foithcomiiig wintvr show of the Utago A. and I'. Socut" and should help in showiug faimen the necessity for seed of the highest quality, and that which shows the least number of impurities, only being used. When it is considered, aaid 'Mr Cockayne, that 1 per cent, of impurity m a sample of gras*> «eed b sufficient to produce 30 to 40 plants to every square yard of ground, it is very obvious that piirny of seed bbould be a sine qua nou of tue fanner.

The collection, besides showing examples of nearly all the impurities >o hfonnd, ats'» has a series of most inlcici-t----ing set;* of grass seeds, showing both the beed in bulk and the* y&ed with the impurities* removed, the? impurities being placed side by side with the pure seed, «o that tho percentage of impurities may be at once- seen.

Mr Kirk lias for many years urged-the Dfct of only the- highest grade seed. but. unfortunately, many of the fatmers of the Dominion have pursued a "" penny wise, pound foolish" pulicy. It must- be renieint'Med that, when poor and impure seed h used, the difference* in cost between it and high grade samples only represents* a few shillings per acre, and the ultimate! result is that the farmer who goes, in for the low grade seed obtains a weedy pasture of low stock-canying capacity, whereas, if lit? had used -".ghgrade seed" his land would naturally" be very much more productive, and therefore more remunerative.

The importance of the matter, continued Mr Cockayne, can be at once gauged when we consider what work has b.:en done in other countt ies outside of Saw Zeaj land. The system of the great *eed control stations in Europe, and the work o! tlw extierimental stations of the I until States of America, have done- .mnch towards the amelioration of farm seeds. Thirty year* ago the agricultural seeds nsed in Europe were very impure, but that has now been altered by the woik of the seed control departments, nhich have fix? el a standard of germination nnd of purity, and so enabled the farmer to choose a beed of first-grade quality. Questioned as to the method to be adopted by farmers in order to secure the best results from seed sown. Mr Cockayne raid that an important point to bear in mind was that the whole of the seed field should consist of pure cultures of a single specico. This, he said, was in marked contrast to the land used in New Zealand for grass seed purposes, which, and naturally tended to a mixed herbage, in many case?, was surface-sown groitnct. The consequence of this was that New Zealand seeds required to be machine dressed mnch more thoroughly than v.... imported seeds. . A great deal of wotk dealing with me commercial value of agricultural seed;* has been done in ; the department's laboratory during (he past season, and a bulletin may shortly be expected dealing with the subject. Xhi:' bulletin, sain -f representative of the biological division, will be copiocbly illustrated with seed impurities, and from them farmers will be able to identity any undesirable alien that may be present in .ue sampie sent forward for his use.

The collection will be sown at the various winter shorn*, throughout Xmv Zealand, and it is hoped that it will arotfcm? interest in the usiUer of seed" ealture. Farmers should be particularly interested because it » pointed out now, and it has been emphasised over and over again, that all our dangprous weed*, which are year by year lessening the value of oar pastures- are attributable to badtyf leaned sted having been used in the first instance.