832 



Working of the Seeds Act, 1920. 



[Dec, 



It may appear that at £7 to £S per cwt. liquorice growing is 

 a very profitable crop, but against this must be set the high cost 

 of planting, tlie interval of four years before any returns are 

 obtained, except from the intercropped vegetable crops the first 

 two years, and the heavy expenses of lifting and trimming the 

 roots. And another point is that there is only a limited demand 

 and this appears to be getting less and less each year. 



The question of growing the liquorice root for extraction of the 

 liquorice of commerce, of which thousands of tons ^are annually 

 imported, has sometimes been raised, but when it is pointed out 

 that imported liquorice, not the root, is on offer at present at £5 

 a cwt., it will be seen that it is impossible for the English grower 

 to compete since he grows at a loss when he obtains that price 

 for the root. The difference can be better realised when it is 

 stated that 1 cwt. of the root only yields 80 lb. of liquorice. 



****** 



THE FIRST YEAR'S WORKING OF 

 THE SEEDS ACT, 1920. 



II. 



Seed Potatoes. — One of the new features of the Seeds Kegu- 

 lations, 1921, was that in the case of a sale or exposure for sale 

 of seed potatoes, a statement had to be delivered to the pur- 

 chaser (or exhibited alongside the potatoes when exposed for 

 sale) containing particulars as to the class, variety, size and 

 dressing of the potatoes. As regards the statement of variety, 

 it was laid down that this should not be taken to be incorrectly 

 stated if it were true of 97 per cent, of the total quantity sold 

 or exposed for sale, or, in other words, that an error of 3 per 

 cent, would be allowed. On representations being made by the 

 seed potato trade that it was impossible, during the first year 

 that the Eegulations were in operation, to limit the possible 

 error to 8 per cent., the Ministry issued a General Licence 

 authorising the standard of purity to be reduced to 95 per cent, 

 for the 1921-22 season only. In the amended Seeds Eegula- 

 tions, 1922, the sale of a quantity of seed potatoes of less than 

 97 per cent, purity is authorised provided they are declared to 

 be of mixed varieties." 



The sale of seed potatoes is similar to that of packeted seed, 

 inasmuch as it is to a large extent undertaken during a few 

 weeks only in the year by a number of persons whose 

 ordinary business has no connection whatever with the seed or 



