103 



Soil as uniform as possible should be chosen so as to give each 

 plot an equal opportunity. The seed used, both of the sort under trial 

 and of the competing local sort, should be grown in the district in order that 

 the quality of both may be as nearly equal as possible. 



When a sort has been under trial for a sufficient length of time to give a 

 fair indication of its industrial value and when results to date seem to 

 indicate that it is likely to be worthy of distribution, a new pedigree is taken 

 for multiplication in order that a few bushels of seed of unquestioned purity 

 may be available for further multiplication should the final trials warrant 

 such. This multiplication of promising stocks in advance often saves two 

 or three years time. 



The system of sowing on the multiplication plot makes it possible to 

 examine single plants. In the case of barley each plant is pulled up by the 

 roots and taken to the laboratory where a single kernel is taken from each 

 and examined with a lens. If any mixtures have accidently come in, the 

 whole lot is rejected and a new multiplication made. This examination can 

 be made quite rapidly, 600 plants per hour being quite within the reach of 

 one accustomed to the work. 



In the absence of any organization among the farmers of Sweden, such 

 as that provided by the Canadian Seed Growers' Association in Canada, by 

 which special efforts are made by the farmers themselves to maintain the 

 purity of seed, the purest stocks are often found, sooner or later, to become 

 mixed and deficient in uniformity. In order to perpetuate pure stocks the 

 Swedish Association keeps in reserve a small quantity of the original seed 

 from which it makes new multiplications (renewals) from time to time as 

 circumstances demand. These renewals are handed over to the General 

 Swedish Seed Company, which has the exclusive right to receive such stocks 

 and which multiplies and handles them in a manner which has been described 

 by the writer in a recent article.* 



The system of book-keeping at Svalof is extremely simple. A single 

 book for each kind of crop accommodates both field and laboratory notes for 

 a given year. Each separate culture under consideration is allotted a separate 

 page which bears the field number for the current and previous years, the 

 stock-book number (the number under which it is registered) if it has been 

 registered, and in due time the field number for the following year. Each of 

 these numbers occupies a definite place on each page so that their identity is 

 always recognized. In this simple manner it is easy to trace the ancestry of 

 a given sort or line from generation to generation. The information regard- 



Multiplica- 

 tion of sorts 

 intended for 

 distribution. 



Measures 

 taken to 

 maintain the 

 purity and 

 identity of 

 seed stocks. 



Book 

 Keeping 



'"The Distribution of Improved Seed Stocks in Europe," Page 109, Seventh Annual Report of 

 the Canadian Seed Growers' Association, Ottawa. 



