42 
SEED TRADE BUYERS GUIDE 
SEED VERIFICATION SERVICE HAS BIGGEST YEAR 
(Prepared by U. S. Bureau of Agricultural Economics) 
M ORE ALFALFA SEED was verified 
as to origin during the Seed Verifi¬ 
cation Service year which ended 
July 31, 1934, than in any year since the in¬ 
ception of the Service in 1927. This is sig¬ 
nificant because the 1933 production of 
alfalfa seed was below average and the fees 
were increased from 2 cents per 100 pounds 
to 3 cents. The growth of the Service indi¬ 
cates an increasing popularity for verified- 
origin seed. 
During the past year the new rules, regu¬ 
lations, and instructions governing origin 
verification of seed were in effect, and in the 
main they were found to be satisfactory. 
They incorporated three important changes, 
namely, the limiting of the origin of alfalfa 
seed to three states or less, the revision of 
the old form of shipper’s declaration, and the 
raising of the fees. These changes have 
been fruitful of results. 
Those who have called attention to the un¬ 
desirability of multiple origins of alfalfa 
seed for the last few years will be glad to 
learn that this situation has almost been en¬ 
tirely corrected by the regulation with re¬ 
spect to the number of states of origin. 
During the last (verification) year 89.86% 
of the verified-origin alfalfa seed offered for 
sale carried certificates showing the origin 
to be a single state, 6.95% indicated two 
states, 2.94% indicated three states, and 
0.25% indicated four or more states. Prac¬ 
tically all the lots the origins of which were 
four or more states represented seed carried 
over from the previous year, when it was 
permissible to prepare such blends. Last 
year, as may be seen from the foregoing 
figures, approximately 97% of all the veri¬ 
fied-origin alfalfa seed sold was of either 
one state or two states of origin. 
Kansas again led all other states as the 
principal source (origin) of verified-origin 
alfalfa seed that was offered for sale dur¬ 
ing the 1933-34 season. It was, however, 
closely pressed by Montana, these two states 
accounting for 46% of all the alfalfa seed 
verified. Other states in the order of the 
quantities verified are: Nebraska, Idaho, 
South Dakota, Utah, Michigan, Minnesota, 
and Oklahoma. Besides the states men¬ 
tioned, there are 13 other states that pro¬ 
duced seed that was verified as to origin. 
In this connection, it might be well to men¬ 
tion that seed from any state of production 
is eligible for verification of origin, but that 
the bulk of the seed verified comes from 
northern and central-producing districts. 
The raising of the fees from 2 cents to 
3 cents per 100 pounds put the Service on 
a self-supporting basis. During the last 
season 2,005 inspection certificates were is¬ 
sued, the fees for which amounted to $18,- 
293.28, compared with $8,907.86 the year be¬ 
fore and $8,136.07 two years ago. Approxi¬ 
mately 44,000,000 pounds of alfalfa and 17,- 
000,000 pounds of red clover seed were veri¬ 
fied during the 1933-34 season, compared 
with 25,000,000 and 19,000,000 pounds, re¬ 
spectively, during the preceding season. 
The quality of the verified-origin seed 
sold in 1933-34 was, as in previous years, 
better than that of non-verified origin seed. 
Approximately 80% of the alfalfa and 
nearly 98% of the red clover samples col¬ 
lected were of good to very good quaLty, 
and less than 3% of the alfalfa and only 
Vs of 1 % of the red clover samples were 
below fair in quality. This indicates that 
at this time there is little or no need of mak¬ 
ing further restriction regarding the quality 
of verified-origin seed than that which has 
been in effect almost since the Service be¬ 
gan, namely, that tag certificates should not 
accompany shipments of screenings or other 
low-grade seed. 
The revision of the old form of shipper’s 
declaration made that form more under¬ 
standable by the hundreds of country ship¬ 
pers who had occasion to use it. It has been 
found necessary, however, to make addi¬ 
tional restrictions relative to the accepta¬ 
bility of these declarations. Up to the present 
season (1934-35) declarations of origins 
were accepted from general seed dealers not 
enrolled in the Service but who were sit¬ 
uated in a surplus alfalfa seed producing 
district and were keeping proper records and 
otherwise meeting the requirements of the 
Service. At the present time, in addition to 
the former requirements, these dealers are 
required to show on tags the state or states 
of origin and the lot number or other iden¬ 
tification of every lot of alfalfa seed shipped 
by them if they wish to continue to furnish 
declarations of origin. This will tend to de¬ 
crease the quantity handled of origins un¬ 
desirable for sowing in sections where these 
dealer-shippers are situated and make for 
fairer competition between them and veri¬ 
fied-origin seed dealers who are required to 
accompany all shipments of alfalfa seed, 
except state-certified and sealed seed as well 
as imported and low-grade seed, with certifi¬ 
cates showing the lot identification and 
origin. 
The enrollment for the 1934-35 season is 
even greater than that of last season, 
when there were 68 verified-origin seed deal¬ 
ers. Only one of those dealers has with¬ 
drawn from the Service, and his place has 
been taken by 19 others. The 86 dealers, 
situated in 24 states, now enrolled are ex¬ 
pected to handle more than 90% of the 
alfalfa seed that enters commerce. Up to 
the end of October, much more alfalfa seed 
was verified as to origin than during the 
corresponding period in any previous year. 
Directory Section Index—Page 4 
