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jnrnxAh  of  hofttcultiuik  and  cottage  gardener. 
IMarch  26,  1903. 
Small  Seeds  and  a  Testing  Station. 
Farmers  do  not  love  change,  and  they  are  not  easy  to 
move  out  of  a  beaten  track  ;  but  their  choice  of  seed  mix¬ 
tures  is  often  changing  and  capricious,  and  this  is  the  excep¬ 
tion  which  proves  the  rule.  There  are  so  many  vendors  of 
seeds  on  every  market  that  farmers  have  an  endless  choice 
of  samples  ;  and,  considering  the  opportunities  thus  given 
and  the  growing  importance  of  temporary,  pastures,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  they  are  more  ready  than  they  used  to 
lie  to  attempt  new  seed  mixtures. 
Rye  gi'asses  were  at  one  time  persistently  tabooed  by  the 
leaders  in  agricultural  science.  When  the  Wheat  crop  was 
depended  on  to  pay  the  rent,  it  was  found  necessary  to 
grow  Clover  as  a  prepai’ation  for  the  Wheat  crop  more  than 
with  a  view  to  sheep  pasturage.  Rye  grass  did  not  leave 
the  land  rich  enough  for  farmers  in  those  days,  but  great 
changes  have  occurred  since  then.  Notwithstanding  the 
low  price  of  wool,  sheep  realise  nearly  as  much  as  ever  they 
did  ;  but  Wheat  at  27s.  per  quarter  is  not  remunerative 
enough  to  command  the  first  consideration  in  arranging  the 
mixtures  of  small  seeds.  , 
One  of  the  great  objection  to  Rye  grass,  especially  the 
Italian  variety,  has  always  been  the  difficulty  of  obtaining 
samples  free  from  the  seeds  of  couch  grass.  The  farmer 
has  difficulty  enough  in  keeping  his  land  clean  without  sow¬ 
ing  twitch,  and  this  was  generally  done  with  every  lot  of 
Italian  Rye  grass  thirty  years  ago.  Great  credit  must  be 
given  to  seed  growers  and  merchants  for  the  improvement 
which  has  taken  place  in  this  respect,  and  now  Dwarf 
Perennial  Rye  grass  may  be  purchased  of  absolute  purity  ; 
and  Italian,  if  not  absolutely  true,  still  without  any  admix¬ 
ture  of  couch.  The  production  of  pure  seeds  depends 
entirely  on  the  grower.  If  he  commences  with  a  sample 
selected  by  hand,  and  grows  it  on  absolutelv  clean  land  year 
by  year,  in  course  of  time  he  is  able  to  put  on  the  market 
a  large  stock  of  seed  of  absolute  purity,  and  can  command 
a  high  price  for  it.  There  is  no  doubt  that  even  now,  not¬ 
withstanding  all  that  has  been  done,  a  great  many  grossly 
impure  samples  are  on  the  market,  and  the  fear  of  pur¬ 
chasing  weeds  in.stead  of  grass  deters  many  a  farmer  from 
sowing  Italian  Rye  grass. 
In  the  case  of  Clovers  he  can  see  what  he  gets.  It  is 
desirable  that  all  seeds,  especiallv  Rye  grass,  should  be 
sold  with  a  guarantee  of  purity  ;  but  this  can  be  of  little 
value  unless  there  is  some  properly  authorised  system 'of 
testing  them.  The  Royal  Agricultural  Society  has  been  of 
great  assistance  to  farmers  generally  by  providing  an  effi¬ 
cient  means  whereby  they  could  ascertain  the  value  of  pur¬ 
chased  manures,  and  it  has  been  suggested  that  the  society 
should  take  up  the  work  of  testing  seeds.  This,  however. 
i.5  a  ver.v  different  matter  from  the  simple  anal.vsis  of 
manures  by  a  first-class  chemist,  and  would  require  the  full 
co-operation  of  seed  merchants  and  growers  ;  whether  they 
would  sive  such  assistance  to  a  semi-amateur  organisation 
as  the  R.A.S.  is  more  than  doubtful. 
This  testing  of  seeds  is  an  important  question,  and  one 
<0  be  dealt  with  by  the  Government  through  the  Board  of 
Agriculture.  The  testing  should  be  conducted  by  pm’- 
manenl  officials  on  sfrictlv  impartial  line.s.  All  samples 
offered  on  markets  should  be  liable  to  inspection  by  a 
market  official  or  inspector,  who  might  send  portions  of  the 
same  to  be  officially  fpsted.  in  just  the  same  fashion  as  milk 
and  other  articles  of  food  are  tested  now.  In  fact,  the 
Merchandise  Marks  Act  should  be  made  to  fully  apply  to 
the  trade  in  small  seeds,  and  a  merchant  who  offers  R.ve 
grass  and  twitch  seed  as  the  I’eal  article  should  be  liable  to 
severe  penalties.  Until  we  have  an  official  rapans  of  testing 
the  genuineness  of  seerls  it  is  most  advisable  to  buy  only 
from  firms  of  high  standing  and  untarni,shed  reputation.  We. 
may  have  to  pav  a  higher  price,  but  a  larger  Quantity  of 
seed  is  renuired  when  the  germination  is  doubtful,  and 
therefore  the  difference  .per  acre  may  be  something  quite 
immaterial  when  comparing  good  and  doubtful  seeds. 
Clover  seeds  are  hardening  in  price,  and  good  English 
are  scarce  and  very  dear.  No  good  ■white  can  be  bought 
under  Is.  per  lb,  and  red  at  12s.  per  stone.  There  m‘e 
plenty  of  samples  at  less  money  ;  some  pretty  but  unripe 
samples  of  American  Red  can  be  put  on  the  market  at  8s., 
and  no  doubt  much  of  this  really  inferior  stuff  will  be 
sown.  It  will  germinate  well  enough,  no  doubt,  but  next 
year  at  this  time  a  plant  may  be  conspicuous  only  by  its 
absence.  We  have  been  much  struck  this  season  by  some 
more  than  excellent  plots  of  young  red  Clover  belonging  to 
small  farmers  in  this  parish,  and  find  on  inquiry  that  all 
bought  the  same  seed,  a  mixture  of  several  varieties  of  Red 
Clover  and  Cow-grass.  One  farmer  had  been  previously 
successful  with  this  mixture,  and  the  others  followed  his 
lead.  This  man  gives  his  mixture  a  wmndertiil  character 
for  standing  the  winter,  and  we  are  going  to  suggest  that 
this  mav  be  owing  to  the  mixture  of  so  many  kinds  pro¬ 
viding  the  farmer,  so  to  say,  with  so  ma,ny  strings  to  his 
^°'no  doubt  14lb  of  Clover  seed  evenly  distributed  is  far 
more  than  necessary  to  plant  an  acre  of  land,  and  if  one- 
half  or  even  one-third  get  well  hold  and  weather  the  flood 
and  frost  of  winter,  there  should  be  ample  to  cover  the  soil 
Avith  profit.  We  commend  this  idea  of  sowing  a  mixture 
of  Reds  and  a  little  Cow-grass  (not  too  much  of  this)  to  our 
readers’  attention.  Going  back  to  the  question  m  Rye 
grasses,  there  is  no  doubt  that  imported  seed  from  r  ranee 
ia  the  most  satisfactory  form  of  Italian.  It  should  have 
been  well  recleaned  in  England,  and  will  cost  about  6s.  3d. 
per  bushel,  or  50s.  per  quarter.  Home-grown  seed  is 
heavier,  and  perhaps  cleaner,  but  it  does  not  grow  so  early 
or  produce  so  good  a  crop.  The  price  is  less,  being  about 
5s.  per  bushel,  and  40s.  per  quarter.  • 
Perennial  Rye  grass  is  represented  by  two  varieties,  the 
Avrshire,  or  ordinary,  and  Pacey’s  Dwarf  Perennial  ;  the 
latter  is  very  heavy,  and  weisfhs  up  to  28lb  per  bushel.  As 
it  is  very  square  ended  seed,  having  no  horn  or  tail,  any 
straw  seeds  of  Italian,  or  possibly  twitch  grass,  may  be 
readilv  detected.  This  is  considerably  in  its  favour  Avhen 
absolute  purity  and  cleanliness  are  insisted  uPon  ihe 
price  of  Ayrshire  weighing  22lb  to  24lb  per  bushel  is  5s.  3d. 
to  6s.  ;  and  Pace-^’s,  weighing  24lb  to  28lb,  6s.  to  6s  6d.,  the 
higher  prices  denoting  the  heavier  weights. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
This  is  a  funny  March !  We  are  getting  plenty  of  wind ;  but 
Oh  !  such  a  lot  of  water  with  it !  We  are  still  getting  manure  out, 
when  we  can,  and  there  are  Potatoes  to  send  away;  but  sorting 
in  the  open  has  been  out  of  the  question  on  most  days.  We  had 
been  pleased  to  think  that  farm  work  ivas  rather  forward,  but  at 
this  rate  there  will  soon  be  plenty  of  arrears.  We  must  keep 
off  the  laud  at  any  cost,  for  the  hopse.V  feet  ''vould  be  ruinous  to 
any  prospect  of  good  tilth.  The  ram  is  doing  Wheat  much  good 
on  this  fairly  high  land.  It  is  beating  it  solid  in  a  “ore  effects e 
fashion  than  any  roller  could  have  done,  and  theie  can  be  no 
rolling  now  for  a  long  time.  tvTq„ 
Now  is  the  time  to  prepare  the  artificial  manure  foi  Man¬ 
golds— well,  perhaps  semi-artificial  Avoiild  be  nearer  the  mark, 
for  piueou  and  hen  manure  are  certainly  natiiial  enough. 
home-made  guano  is  just  ivhat  Mangolds  require,  and  about  this 
time  we  clean  out  hen-houses  and  pigeqn-cotes  and  any  othei 
place  where  fowls  vill  congregate,  and  mix  the  dung  so  collected 
with  freshly  obtained  super-phosphate,  and,  if  freshly  made,  al 
the  better  in  the  proportion  of  8cwt  of  .  super  ivith  one  caitload 
of  guano.  It  must  be  thoroughly  well  mixed,  and  will  requiie  an 
occasional  turning  before  it  is  required  at  the  end  ot  April,  or  i 
will  not  be  a  pleasant  job  for  the  man  who  soip  .  i  , 
Speaking  to  a  skin  dealer  whom  we  saw  starting  for  marke 
with  a  loaded  cart  the  other  day,  ive  found  that  the  good  health 
of  the  ewe  flocks  is  well  maintained.  No  one  knows  so  well  as  tlie 
fellmonger  how  matters  are  going,  and  this  one  gave  a  most 
excellent  report.  .  • 
Fat  sheep  are  still  very  dear,  especially  wethers  and  eves,  it 
Ave  had  not  so  many  Turnips  left  Ave  should  like  to  be  market¬ 
ing  some.  A  neighbour  Avas  sending  a  nice  draft  aAvay  yestei- 
day,  and  no  doubt  would  have  a  satisfactory  return.  Beef  sells 
Avell  if  it  is  fat  enough,  but  small  pork  is  much  cheaper  and  quite 
out  of  proportion  tO'  the  price  of  bacon  or  young  pigs,  buckers 
are  much  too  dear  to  turn  into  pork  at  6s.  per  stone.  1  otatoes 
are  a  dreadful  trade  and  getting  Avorse.  Dates  are  the  only 
Potatoes  inquired  for.  Professor  Maercker  is  under  a  cloud,  he 
is  Avhite  and  cooks  mealy,  but  he  has  too  many  humps  and 
shoulders  to  pare  round,  and  his  eyes  require  a  gouge  to  properly 
extract  them.  Yon  Avill  not  do.  Professor! 
Northern  Star  has  reached  the  record  price  of  21s.  per  lb. 
Why  not  21  guineas?  One  is  as  sensible  as  the  other.  We  have 
knoAvn  many  iieAv  Potatoes  in  onr  time  and  harm  forgotten  most 
of  them.  Eheu!  fugaces! 
