1921.] 



Seed Control, 1920-21. 



819 



vailing at last year's harvest, there is not much reason to doubt 

 that it seeusnien gave greater consideration to the question of 

 storage tirere would be fewer cases of abnormal fall m germination 

 of seed offered for sale. 



Another outstanding feature of the 1920-21 season was the 

 increase in the number of cases reported to the Ministry in 

 which seeds were offered for sale without the particulars as to 

 purity, germination, etc., prescribed by the Order being stated. 

 The majority of the vendors pleaded ignorance of the require- 

 ments of the Order, while others stated that samples of the 

 seed were " in test." In all but a few cases, however, the 

 results of the check tests showed that the seed offered for sale 

 was of average quality. The omission to state the required 

 particulars was pointed out to the offending firms, who were 

 warned that if the circumstances were repeated the Ministry 

 would not take so lenient a view of the matter. The fact that the 

 number of cases reported to the Ministry under this head is more 

 for the 1920-21 season than for the previous season cannot be 

 regarded as an indication of a general laxity on the part of 

 seedsmen to comply with the provisions of the Order, but is due 

 more to increased vigilance on the part of the Ministry's 

 Inspectors with a view to checking this form of evasion. As a 

 general rule, the reports show that in almost all districts there 

 was a desire to observe carefully the statutory requirements. 



In almost every case where the attention of the vendor was 

 called to the discrepancy between the particulars declared by 

 him and those ascertained on the check tests, the action of the 

 Ministry resulted either in the stocks of seed being destroyed, 

 or in the seller adopting the official test as the basis of his 

 statement in further sales. 



It is satisfactory to record the great improvement in the purity 

 of seeds, and the decline in the number of cases where the per- 

 centage of injurious weed seeds was incorrectly stated, as shown 

 in the analyses of the control samples, especially as samples 

 from suspected stocks only were drawn as a rule. 



Points arising in the Administration of the Order. — Prosecu- 

 tion. — The only prosecution for an infringement of the provisions 

 of the Order was heard in May, 1921, when legal proceedings 

 were taken against a Welsh seed merchant on two informations : — 



(a) For exposing for sale seed oats without displaying a copy 



of the declaration required by the Order. 



(b) For failing to give the Official Sampler the particulars 



required by Clauses 1 and 2 of the Order in respect of 

 samples taken. d 2 



