71J8 



The Smithfield Club and its History. [Dec. 



The nature of the inaccuracies in the declarations may be 

 summarised as follows: — 



(a) Germination. 



17 cases in whicli the discrepancy anioiinted to from 10 to 15 per cent. 



5 .. ,. „ 15 to 20 



14 .. .. over 20 per cent. 

 (h) Purity. 



15 cases in which the discrepancy amounted to from 3 to 5 per cent. 



6 „ „ 5 to 10 



4 .. ,. over 10 per cent. 



(c) In 20 cases the presence of dodder was not declared. 



(d) In 22 cases the percentage of injurious weed seed was incorrectly 



declared. 



(e) In other cases the declarations were either incomplete in some details 



or were not given at all. 



The policy of administering the Order in a non-penal manner 

 was continued during the 1919-20 season, and no legal pro- 

 ceedings were taken in connection with any of the above 

 breaches of the Order. In every case, however, the attention 

 of the seller was drawn to the circumstances, and his observa- 

 tions invited. As a result the seed was in most cases either 

 returned to the wholesaler or withdrawn from sale as seed, 

 or the declaration w^as varied to correspond with the results 

 of the official check test. The commonest defence made by 

 retailers was that they were repeating the declaration of the 

 wholesaler. It was pointed out that in such instances the last 

 seller is responsible for the accuracy of the declaration, and 

 that it is advisable for retailers, in their own interests, to have 

 seed retested from time to time to check the correctness of the 

 wholesaler's declaration. 



Testing of Seeds in the Future. — The Testing of Seeds 

 Order, 1918, will remain in force until the 1st August next, 

 when the Seeds Act, 19-20 (see this Journal, October, 1920, 

 page 604) , comes into operation. Declaration of particulars 

 of seed sold will then be compulsory under this Act. 



Copies of the Order (price Id. net; and of the Act (price 

 2d. net) may be obtained from His Majesty's Stationery 

 Office, Imperial House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2. 



The Smithfield Fat Stock Show, held by the Smithfield 

 Club, takes place this year from 6th to 10th December. It is 



« .^-i^ri ur^i .chiefly an exhibition of cattle, sheep and 

 The Smithfield Club . ^ • i r . c u u-u-^^a 



and its Histor ammals are first oi all exhibited 



^' alive and are afterwards slaughtered, the 

 carcasses being quartered, Vv-eighed and judged. The live and 



