24 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



government has been a heavy buyer of Danish seed. French 

 seed is very hard to get, only about 10 to 15 per cent of the 

 orders being filled, and this same condition applies also to 

 Italian seed. Sugar beet seed is very short, as there will be no 

 available foreign supply. 



The only bright spot in the situation concerns the American 

 grown grass and clover seeds. The supply of timothy, redtop 

 and the clovers is adequate and prices will be normal. Alfalfa 

 seed is reasonable and the demand increasing. Hungarian millet 

 was almost a complete failure and will be scarce, but there seems 

 to be plenty of the Japanese and golden varieties. Foreign grass 

 seeds, on the other hand, are very scarce, and this will greatly 

 affect the lawn mixtures in which such grasses as the fescues and 

 bent are used. 



The outlook for seed potatoes is extremely uncertain. At 

 present, prices are very high, although reports seem to indicate 

 that adequate reserves for seed are being held. Red varieties 

 are very short. At present no quotations on seed potatoes have 

 been made. Farmers should give the seed proposition early 

 consideration, especially on all kinds of domestic seeds. Certain 

 varieties of beans are reported to be already exhausted, al- 

 though there is a possibility of the visible supply of foreign 

 seeds being augmented by a lifting of the present embargo. 



We have given far too little thought to the question of seed 

 production. Here and there we find a man engaged slightly in 

 this business, but principally in producing some particular strain 

 for which he has a monopoly of the market. Large quantities 

 of seed of best strains and purity should be grown here, and 

 there can be no doubt that in this country "with the varied 

 conditions there must be places where practically all the seed 

 we need may be grown. There is another argument for the 

 production of our own seeds in that there is no doubt that 

 certain very destructive diseases have been imported into this 

 country on seed brought from abroad, and we must look for a 

 continuation of these introduced diseases if we continue to 

 import so much of our seed. 



Prices for the next few years certainly should be attractive 

 enough to stimulate the industry which when once established 

 may easily compete with the world. Some phases of the seed 



