820 



Seed Control, 1920-21. 



[Dec, 



On the first count the defendant was fined 20s. and 42s. coste, 

 while the second charge was dismissed by the Court on the 

 ground that the defendant had made a mistake in allowing a 

 sack of feed oats to be sampled instead of seed oats. 



Partial Failure of Wheat Crop. — The attention of the Ministry 

 was drawn to the partial failure of a field of autumn-sown wheat 

 in Devon. The failure was alleged to be due to seed of low 

 germination, and it was ascertained that the firm from whom 

 the farmer purchased the seed omitted to furnish the particulars 

 required by the Order within one month of the delivery of the 

 seed. On inquiry being made, however, it was found that a 

 sample of the seed had been tested at the Official Seed Testing 

 Station, and that the germination was shown to be reasonably 

 high. The seed had been treated by the purchaser with a pre- 

 paration for the prevention of smut, which was probably the 

 cause of the partial failure of the crop. 



Impurities of Red Tre folium — A sample of red trefolium was 

 taken on the premises of a seedsman in Devon, the purity of 

 which was being declared as 95 per cent. On a check test being 

 carried out, it was found that the purity was only 77 per cent., 

 the bulk of the impurities consisting of red clover. The evidence 

 appeared to be sufficient to support proceedings for a breach of 

 the Order, but as apparently the adulteration occurred through 

 careless handling in the warehouse, and not through malicious 

 intent, it was decided to do no more than send a strongly-worded 

 letter of warning to the seedsman in question. 



Case of Low Germination. — A sample of parsnip seed taken 

 on the premises of a firm of ironmongers was found, on an 

 official test, to germinate only 4 per cent. It was ascertained 

 that the seed, together with other lots, was purchased by the 

 vendors when taking over the business 12 months previously. 

 On the matter being taken up with the firm, the parsnip seed was 

 destroyed, and samples of the other seeds were sent for testing. 



The Sale of Seeds in Small Packets. — During the season, 

 1.534 packets of seeds were drawn by the Ministry's Inspectors 

 and sent to the Official Seed Testing Station for check tests t© 

 be carried out. The results of these tests showed that 80.4 per 

 cent, of the packets contained seed germinating at or above the 

 standards authorised by the Testing of Seeds Order, 13.2 per 

 cent, were below the standard but above two-thirds, and 6.4 per 

 cent, were below two-thirds of the standard. These figures, 

 while indicating a slight improvement on the averages for the 

 previous seasons, show that there are still in the country con- 



