304 



THE AGRICULTUEAL NEWS. 



Septembeu 2(5, 1914. 



In suppurt lit' tliis snggi/slion, special ri't'crfiice may be 

 nuide to the supply of coco-iints for planting. There is 

 tindonbtedly much \ariation in the germination 

 capacity, the varietal <iuality and the source, that is 

 the estate or even the territory in its relation to any 

 particular consignment of coco-nut seed, and it is 

 believed that by bearing this in mind during the course 

 •of the folliiwing brief review (if the aims and methods 

 employed on the Cuntinent in the case of temperate 

 seed, some siiggestive ideas will arise that may prove 

 to be of agricultural importance in the Trupics 



The extent to wliich the various continental coun- 

 ti'ies have taken advantage of the State seed-control is 

 showni in three directions. Firstly, by the develop- 

 ment in size of the institutions within recent years (for 

 example, the Hamburg station, a very beautiful build- 

 ing completed in 1907 is now being extended to twice 

 its original .size): secondly, by the number of samples 

 sent in by the public, that is by the agricultural 

 section: and thirdly, by the extent to which merchants 

 have taken advantage of this opportunity for selling 

 tlieir seed under a guarantee. It is clearly evident 

 from the pul)lication under review, that in all the con- 

 tinental Countries the seed-control stations confer 

 a distinct and important national benefit. It will be 

 Convenient t<o consider here the extent to which the 

 analytical work is supported by legislati(jn. In the 

 case of the Hamburg institution there is no special 

 legislation regulating the seed trade, which simply 

 comes under the common law for fraud: but in the case 

 <if the Budapest station, the Hungaiian rural Police 

 Acts relate amongst other things to seeds. The former 

 imposes a penalty up to £8 (js. Hd. on any person who 

 offers for sale certain seed of the small kind, like clover, 

 which is not absolutely free from the seed of the well 

 known jjarasite. Dodder. The second Act, amongst 

 othei- things, impo.ses penalties to the extent of two 

 months' imprisonment and ;i fine of £2.5 for certain 

 ofl'ences — for adidtei-ating or .selling adulterated agii- 

 c\dtural products, and so on. It will be understood 

 that legislation of this kind has resulted in much 

 increase in the work of the seed stations. The verdicts of 

 the stations are generally final, but occasionally flis- 

 putes arise. In Holland, when the two parties involved 

 in the buying and selling of seed differ as to the 

 accuracy of an analytical examination, the right to 

 demand a tresh examination is accorded to them; but 

 both parties nnist accept the average of the two results: 

 that is, when the difference between the two i-esults is 

 not too great to establish an average. 



The meth(jds em])loyeil in the analyses of seed 

 on the Continent naturally vary in the different 

 institutions, but in general the piineipal objects 

 of determination are common to all. These may 

 be sunnnaii/.ecj as follows: (1) genuineness and place 

 of origin (the placi:^ of origin is important (jwing 

 to the fact that the value of a sample of .seed 

 depends lo a large extent upon wheiv it is gi'own); 

 (2)purity; (o) moisture content: (4) weight of 1,000 fresh 

 seeds: and (.")) germinating capacity and energy of germ- 

 ination. In the course of perusing the pttblication under 

 consideration, it appeals that the question of method 

 IS riealt with especially comprehensively in comiexion 

 with the Wageningen station in Holland, and it is 

 therefore proposetl to confine remarks on the subject 

 with reference to this section. 



The decision of the place of origin is ai'i-ived 

 at by special enquiries based upon establishetl vari- 

 ation between samples of seefl of the same species 

 obtained fi'om different countries. (_)ne of the most 

 important points in the analysis is that of purity, and 

 this investigation resolves itself into (a) the determin- 

 ation of the hai-mless impurities such as damaged 

 seed and residues, and (b) the determination of harmful 

 impurities such as weed seeds, conveyors of jjlant 

 disease like Sclerotia, and insects. In Holland there 

 are various special methods adopted in regard to ])uiitv 

 for the more important farm seeds, but it is unneces- 

 sary to enter into these heie. For the determination 

 of the germinating capacity and energy of germination, 

 there is a general test on pure seed jjreviously sepai'at- 

 ed in the purity test. It is hardly nece.s.sary to state 

 that in principle, germinating capacity is determined 

 by counting each day the number of seeds which 

 germinate out of. say. 100 originally started with, the 

 number taken tor the test depending to a large extent 

 upon the size of the seed. But as well as the genera[ 

 test, there are at least eight methods used for carrying 

 it out in the control station in Holland, the one 

 selectetl ilepending upon vhc> kind of .seeds to be used. 

 The account of these tests is very interesting, but 

 fm-ther elaboration on the subject would he out 

 of place in this general article. Enough has been 

 sail I in regard to methods to show that the prac- 

 tice of seed-coiitiol is considerably in advance of 

 the standard given it in text-books — at least English 

 text-books and publications on agricultural botimv. 



Finally, a note may be added as to the cost of 

 having samples of seed examined. This, like the methods 

 — or rather with them — varies. Koughly speaking, the 



