AGRICULTURAL BOARD.

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18170, 7 November 1930, Page 9

AGRICULTURAL BOARD.

SEED CERTIFICATION SCHEME. INAUGURATION APPRECIATED. The director and the agronomist of the Plant Research Station, Palmerston North, gave the Board of Agriculture at its recent meeting an outline of the seed certification scheme which has been inaugurated by the Department of Agriculture and which will greatly benefit agricultural industry in the Dominion by enabling farmers to obtain reliable seed true to type. At the present time, seed potatoes, ryegrass, white clover and wheat are included in this scheme and the addition of cocksfoot is contemplated. Members fully appreciated the value and the importance of this work and expressed the opinion that the certification scheme should be placed on a revenue-earning basis as soon as possible, as the value of an official and unbiased guarantee to the purchaser of the seed warranted a payment for such service, and also the imposition of a scale of charges for the certification of seed would relieve the Consolidated Fund of a portion of the cost of the w'ork. Pasture Research WorkMembers of the board visited the plots at Massey College where investigational work is being undertaken with a view to the evolution, by breeding, selection and culling, of superior pedigree types of pasture plants. The officers of the Plant Research Station and Fields Division in

charge of this work were in attendance and conducted the board over the plots. The immense possibilities which this research, in conjunction with the certification scheme, has opened up in the direction of improvement in the Dominion’s pastures was readily apparent from the present stage which the work has reached, and the board indicated it 3 gratification at what is being done. Grassland Management. From Massey College, the board proceeded to Marton to visit the Experimental Area operated by the Department of Agriculture, w'here a study of pasture production- throughout the whole of the year and the investigation and trial of methods of manuring and management are being undertaken. The various ryegrass and clover areas afforded most valuable object lessons in grass-farming and the board was of opinion that it is well worth the while of North Island farmers to visit Marton and sec for themselves what is being done there in demonstrating the economic losses which must result from the establishment of inferior strains of rye-grass and clover 'and the great advantage to be gained by using the right strains.