552 



Copenhagen Seed Testing Congress. 



[Sept., 



Mr. Dorph-Petersen Denmark) : "Report on the Investigations made by 

 the State Seed Testing Stations, l)oth in tlie Laboratory and in the 

 Field, upon the Germinating Energy, Purity of Strain, and Freedom 

 from Disease of Seed." 

 Mr. E. Yitek (Czecho-Slovakia) : " The Determination of Dodder." 

 Dr. von Degen (Hungary) and M. Bussard (Fi-ance) : " Plans for the 

 Unification of Seed Testing Methods." 



Mr. Bruijning's paper was mainly concerned with a discussion 

 of the various methods of making purity determinations. He 

 pointed out the desirabihty, more particularly from the point of 

 view of the seed trade, of standardising the methods by which 

 such tests are made. A suggestion made for " grading " seeds 

 according to a formula somewhat similar to the " real value " 

 formula did not receive much support. Attention was also drawn 

 to the question of " sprouted " seed. Mr. Bruijning pointed 

 out that in many cases, particularly with cereals, " sprouted " 

 seed was capable of making a satisfactory second growth, but 

 the general feeling of the Congress appeared to be that it w^as 

 desirable to look upon " sprouted " seed as an impurity. 



Dr. Volkart dealt with the use of " character seeds " as a 

 means of identifying the country of origin of the sample. He 

 also pointed out that other impurities, such as earth, snail- 

 shells, and other forms of inert matter were also of value in 

 certain cases. It was suggested that one of the Official Seed 

 Testing Stations should be asked to correlate all the available 

 information on this subject, and also to collect further data from 

 different parts of the world. At the request of the Congress 

 Dr. Yolkart undertook to do this work at Zurich. 



The next four papers dealt mainly with methods of Seed 

 Testing and Seed Control in different countries. 



Sir Lawrence Weaver described the steps that led up to the 

 passing of the Seeds Act and to the formation of the National 

 Institute of Agricultural Botany. Mr. Saunders gave a summary 

 of the Seeds Act Eegulations and a brief description of the 

 methods of testing used in the United Kingdom. Apart from 

 the difference between the " Irish " and " Continental 

 methods of grass seed testing there is not much variation in 

 technical details. In one point of routine work, however, the 

 English Station appears to have gone further than the Con- 

 tinental Stations. Here the work is divided into four sections — 

 Clovers. Grasses, Cereals, Boots and Vegetables — each having 

 its own purity and germination rooms, whereas most of the 

 Continental Stations do not make this differentiation. The 

 Fnglish method would appear to have manv advantages. 



