THE PRINCIPLES OF SEED-TESTING 495 



the Seed Committee thought a central Station would need 

 a Director receiving £ 1,000 a year, with the necessary staff and 

 equipment. 



Cost of Test. — The cost of a test varies very much according 

 to the character of the seed and the extent of the test, being as a 

 rule from 3s. upwards. 



In this Station the seedsman pays 25. per sample for reports 

 on purity and germination ; the farmer, however, only pays 3^.. 

 Our work is confined to the Irish seed trade, and all fees go to 

 H.M.'s. Treasury. 



It appears that no fewer than 850 samples are sent from 

 the United Kingdom abroad each year to be tested, naturally 

 at considerable expense and unavoidable delay. A well- 

 conducted Station for Great Britain under Government control 

 would be highly beneficial to British agriculture. There is 

 evidence from time to time that the existence of this Station 

 has vastly improved the quality, e.g., of the flax seed sown in 

 Ireland. A seedsman selling good seed has nothing to lose, 

 but much to gain, by having his seeds inspected and certificated. 



In the rubbish too often palmed off on the ignorant farmer, 

 the Station proves when called in (and most of our testing is 

 done for the farmers in Ireland) a necessary detective. 



The Seed Committee makes what seems to me a funda- 

 mental error when it says that " the price at which these seeds 

 (certain uncleaned seeds of inferior quality sold in Ireland) are 

 sold not unfrequently corresponds fairly accurately to their 

 value." The seed may be regarded as the farmer's raw material 

 on which he expends his money, time, brain, land, men, and 

 farm appliances. If the seed is impure and of low germination, 

 he will have to spend not less, but rather more, of some of these 

 in working up his raw material, and the resulting harvest 

 will bear no comparison with that derivable from good seed. 

 The disparity between the two results will bear no comparison 

 with the difference in the original outlay in money on the two 

 kinds of seeds. If the farmer knows by test that he is buying 

 seed germinating only 75 per cent, instead of 95 per cent, he 

 can increase the quantity sown, and so save loss in one 

 direction. The Station would give him this information. 



In the same way the cost to the State of a central Seed 

 Station is trifling compared with the benefit to British 

 agriculture its creation would mean. 



