1920.] 



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GRASS AND CLOVER SEED GROWING 

 IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



S. P. Mercer, B.Sc. (Agric.) Lond., N.D.A., 



Chief Seed Analyst, Ministry of Agriculture's 

 Seed Testing Station. 



While the British plant breeding and seed growing industries 

 remain in their present state of development, it is not to be 

 denied that in a few cases foreign seed is preferable to our own. 

 It has, for instance, been shown with sufficient clearness, by 

 Gilchrist's Cockle Park trials, that at least in the north-east of 

 England, New Zealand cocksfoot is better suited for long leys 

 than the various cocksfoots originating at home, since 

 the New Zealand strain ripens later, and is therefore not so 

 over-grown and coarse by the time harvest is reached. Further, 

 there are undoubted instances where, under given conditions, and 

 for given purposes, Chilian Red Clover is more suitable than 

 English, and others where French Sainfoin is more profitable 

 than the home-grown product. If these cases are examined, it 

 is generally found that the qualities which give the foreign 

 samples their superiority are such as could very well be made 

 prominent in our own strains if careful selection were exercised — 

 that is to say, they are not new properties which would need to 

 be introduced, but properties which need developing. The 

 mailable evidence goes to show that such improvements 

 are not only possible, but would probably offer comparatively 

 little difficultv. For example in the case of the Cocksfoot cited 

 above, it would appear that by selection for lateness, British 

 Cocksfoot could be brought to a condition quite equal to the New 

 Zealand seed recently in demand. A further consideration 

 (apart from the benefit to national credit) also arises in that we 

 may not always be able to purchase seed from those particular 

 world localities which produce strains suitable for our require- 

 ments. The same instance may again be cited — it has recently 

 been extremely difficult, and often quite impossible, to obtain 

 New Zealand grown Cocksfoot. 



In fche majority of cases, however, there is no doubt that 

 farmers have every reason to prefer British seed. But the 

 supply of British seed in the case of many species is not nearly 

 sufficient to meet the demand. Taking the commonly used 

 clovers, for instance, over the years from 1914-1918, the quantity 



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