THE SEED WORLD 
197 
U. S. SEEjD VERIFICATION SERVICE 
(Prepared by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D. C.) 
T he BELOW-average produc¬ 
tion of alfalfa and red clover 
seed in 1936 affected the 
quantities of these seeds verified as 
to origin during the Seed Verification 
Service year 1936-37. The quantity 
verified was slightly larger than that 
verified in the preceding season, but 
smaller than that verified in 1934-35. 
The number (86) of dealers enrolled 
in the Service for the year ended 
July 31, 1937 was the same as for 
each of the preceding two years. 
No changes were made in the con¬ 
duct of the Service last year, but 
a number have been made for the 
1937-38 season. These will be de¬ 
scribed later. 
Approximately 52,000,000 pounds 
of alfalfa and 9,000,000 pounds of 
red clover seed were verified as to 
origin in the 1936-37 season, com¬ 
pared with about 48,000,000 and 
12,500,000 pounds, respectively, in 
the 1935-36 season, and 57,200,000 
and 10,800,000 pounds in the 1934-35 
season. The inspection certificates 
issued in the 1936-37 season num¬ 
bered 2,500, the fees for which totaled 
$18,361.99, compared with $18,228.98 
in the 1935-36 season, and $20,487.47 
in the 1934-35 season. 
Minnesota displaced Kansas, 
which had led all other states for 5 
consecutive years, as the leading 
state of production for verified-origin 
alfalfa seed during the 1936-37 sea¬ 
son. It was followed by other states 
in the order as given: Nebraska, Kan¬ 
sas, Oklahoma, Utah, Idaho, Michi- ■ 
gan, California, Colorado, Iowa, and 
South Dakota. 
Reports from and inspection cert- 
ficates issued to verified-origin seed 
dealers in 1937-38 indicate that 85 
percent of the verified-origin alfalfa 
seed offered for sale by those dealers 
carried certificates showing the or¬ 
igin to be a single state, 12 percent 
indicated two states, and 3 percent 
indicated three states. 
Of the samples of alfalfa and red 
clover seed collected during the 1936- 
37 season, 86 percent of the alfalfa 
and 96 percent of the red clover seed 
lots bearing tag verified-origin seed 
certificates were of good to very good 
quality, and only about 2 percent of 
the alfalfa and none of the red clover 
samples were below fair in quality. 
Notwithstanding the fact that the gen¬ 
eral quality of verified-origin seed 
has been superior to that of non-veri- 
fied-origin seed since the inception 
of the Service in 1927 and the further 
fact that the verified-origin seed cer¬ 
tificate clearly states that it does not 
cover variety, quality, purity, or ger¬ 
mination, it was deemed advisable to 
make certain quality requirements 
during the 1937-38 season. 
This was one of the subjects dis¬ 
cussed at the seed verification con¬ 
ference held on June 14, 1937, at 
Cleveland, Ohio. There seemed to 
be a feeling on the part of various 
state and federal officials, as well 
as of many verified-origin seed deal- 
©rs, that there should be a standard 
of conduct established in the handl- 
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