49 



Professor Johannseii 

 opened the meeting. Welcomed the erOffnete die Sitzung; er hiefi den 

 Italiaii Minister Signer Aloi si and italienischen Minister, Signer Aloisi, 

 Consul Thades Bilinski from und Konsul Thades Bilinski von 

 ' Poland. Communicated that members Polen willkommen und teilte mit, da6 

 of the Danish Seed Dealers Association Mitglieder des danischen Samen- 

 were present as guests with the handlervereins als Gaste, mit Er- 

 sanction of Sir Lawrence Weaver, laubnis von Sir Lawrence Weaver, 

 Welcomed them and thereafter intro- anwesend waren. HieB diese will- 

 duced Sir Lawrence Weaver. kommen und erteilte das Wort an 



Sir Lawrence Weaver. 

 Sir Lawrence Weaver: 



"The Seeds Act 1920 and the National Institute of 

 Agricultural Botany." 



By Sir Lawrence Weaver, K.B.E., P. S. A. 

 Director General, Land Department: Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. 



"Before I embark on the two suhjects with which Mr. Dorph-Petersen has asked me 

 to deal, I must make an apology to the eminent assembly of agricultural scientists who 

 form this International Conference on Seed Control. It is hardly too much to say that 

 I am here under false pretences because I am neither an agriculturist nor a scientist, but 

 an administrator. Qui s'excuse s'accuse, but my presence here must be excused because 

 my official position, like my two subjects (a)" legal control of the seed industry in Great 

 Britain, and (b) the new Institute of Agricultural Botany, is a product of the war. 



I must also ask your indolgence for enlarging my subject beyond the technique of 

 seed control and dealing with matters of policy and administration. These questions are, 

 however, germane to the matters under review, as the -new development of seed testing in 

 England will be associated with other aspects of seed improvement. This apparent confusion 

 of function may seem novel to many of you, but it is based on experience gained during the 

 hard testing time of the last four years. English Institutions are often constructed on lines 

 which may offend logical instincts but they are generally found to work well in practice. 



The tragedy of August 1914 found the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries for Eng- 

 land and Wales (since raised to the rank of a Ministry) a comparatively small department 

 of the State. The imperative need for a great increase in the area of arable land in the 

 United Kingdom resulted in the creation of the Food Production Department, linked with 

 the Board of Agriculture but practically independent of it. Into that Department I was 

 thrown by the fortunes of war in April 1917, and placed in control of Farmers' Supplies, 

 seeds, fertilisers and the like. The new department worked in close connection with the 

 Board of Agriculture for Scotland and the Department of Agriculture for Ireland, both of 

 them independent of each other and of the English Board and under the Ministers respon- 

 sible for Scottish and Irish affairs respectively. I found that whereas the English Board 

 had not concerned itself with the Agricultural Seed Industry in any official way, the Irish 

 Department had secured the passing of the Weeds and Agricultural Seeds (Ireland) Act 

 in 1909, which applied only to that part of the United Kingdom. At the same time an 

 Official Seed Testing Station was set up in Dublin, now presided over by my brilliant 

 colleague Dr. Pethybridge. In 1914 the Scottish Board established a Seed Testing Station 

 in Edinburgh, of which my able friend Mr. Anderson is Director, but it was only for 

 voluntary use by farmers and seed merchants. No form of legal supervision was established, 

 until the Testing of seeds Order was issued. 



The summer of 1917 saw the creation of a rigid control of British Agricultural 



