564 



New Seeds Regulations. 



[Sept., 



arable land, of which 2 J million were under temporary grasses 

 (clovers, sainfoin, and rotation grasses) and in addition there 

 v/ere 4J million acres of mountain and heath land used for 

 grazing. The total acreage of grassland of one kind or another 

 in England and Wales in June, 1921, was, therefore, about 21 J 

 million acres, compared with about 9 milhon acres under other 

 crops. It is, however, not merely the extent of the grassland that 

 renders attention to the matter urgent. There is the very im- 

 portant additional consideration that a large proportion of it 

 is of very poor character and capable of considerable improve- 

 ment. Farmers in general are making much more use of 

 improved methods of growing ordinary crops than of those of 

 cultivating grasses. The grasslands are therefore getting very 

 much behind in farming economy, and farmers should con- 

 sider how improvement as exemplified by the demonstrations 

 can best be effected. There are cases where the produce of 

 grassland has been trebled and quadrupled, and in one experi- 

 ment (at Cockle Park, Northumberland), by suitable treatment 

 the produce has been raised from 20 lb. of lean meat per acre 

 per annum to 105 lb., giving more than a five-fold increase in 

 value. There is doubtless much still remaining to be learnt 

 by the instructors on the subject, and much research has 

 still to be made, but there is also much knowledge which 

 has already been accumulated and which should be known with- 

 out further delay by all sections of the farming community. 



****** 



Attention is particularly directed to three matters in con- 

 nection with seeds administration which will affect the w^orking 



New Seeds arrangements of seed merchants. 



Re ulations ^' — ^^^^ ^^^o^t important is the 



egua io . provision in the Seeds Eegulations, 1921,* 

 which has a bearing on the validity of certificates issued by an 

 Official Seed Testing Station or by a licensed station. Under 

 Eegulation (5) a test on which a declaration is to be based must be 

 made upon a sample of a certain weight. A test made on an 

 underweight sample will not be valid for this purpose. 



It has been decided that in all cases where a sample of less 

 than the scheduled weight is received by the Official Seed Test- 

 ing Station, the sender shall be required to forward a fresh full- 

 weight sample, unless the original underweight sample is accom- 

 panied by a statement that the certificate is not required for sale 



* See this Journal, Vol. XXVIII., p. 370. 



