1922.] First Year's Working of the Seeds Act, 19-20. 729 



THE FIRST YEAR'S WORKING OF 

 THE SEEDS ACT, 1920. 



The Seeds Act, 1920., and the Regulations made under it have 

 now been in operation for twelve months and there is consider- 

 able evidence to show that farmers and others have already bene- 

 fited. The main object of the Act is to protect the farmer against 

 the danger of unknowingly purchasing and sowing inferior seeds. 

 With this end in view, in the case of a sale of any of the prin- 

 cipal farm or garden seeds the seller is required to declare in 

 writing to the purchaser, at or before the time of sale or delivery, 

 certain specified particulars as to the quality of the seeds, such 

 as the percentage germination, percentage purity, presence of 

 injurious weed seeds, etc Long before the disclosure of these 

 essential particulars was made obligatory by Government action, 

 all the well-known seed establishments made a practice of giving 

 these guarantees, but the distribution of seeds in this country is 

 carried on by a vast number of firms other than the large and 

 better known seedsmen, and it is by bringing these smaller firms 

 into line as regards guaranteeing the quality of the seeds they 

 sell that the Seeds Act is doing good. It is also stimulating 

 the demand for good seed, and so forcing off the market much 

 of the low grade material. The value of seed is insignificant 

 when compared with the cost of labour and of other materials, 

 but the return from all expenditure on tillage depends largely on 

 the quality of the seeds which are sown, hence the value of the 

 Seeds Act in enabling the farmer or gardener to ascertain the 

 quality of the seeds he is sowing. 



Licensed Private Seed Testing Stations. — One of the 



greatest difficulties experienced in administering the Testing of 

 Seeds Order, which was the forerunner of the Seeds Act, arose 

 from the variation in results of tests carried out by different 

 analysts. In order to overcome this difficulty, it was proposed, 

 when the Seeds Act was being drafted, that there should be one 

 central testing station for the whole of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 and that all tests for the purposes of the Act should be carried 

 out at this station. It was hoped that by concentrating at one 

 station the most up-to-date apparatus, in the hands of a highly 

 efficient staff employing the latest scientific methods, it would 

 be possible to place seed testing on a sounder footing in this 

 country than in any other part of the world. This proposal, 

 however, did not find favour in Scotland and Ireland, both of 



