IMPORTED LUCERNE SEED.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1269, 26 October 1911, Page 10

IMPORTED LUCERNE SEED.

" TRIALS IN NEW SOUTH WALES. The Department cf Agriculture in New I South Wales recently imported samples of different kinds ot lueei-no sc-ed iron ' the United State?, and trials are being made to ascertain how (hey compare with the strains as cultivated. Preliminary report? appear in the latest i!suo of tho Department's "Gazette." The seed was sent to the Hawkesbury College, the experiment farms, and inspectors of agriculture for trial by farmers who provided ground for the tests. The seed was thus tested over a large area under a wide range of conditions. In summing up tho report, this "Gazette'" writes:— "It will be noticed that in the vast majority of cn.ses the best results are obtained "from local seed. This was to be expected; and it will serve to emphasise the advice which is given by all authorities on lucerne, namely, to use acclimatised seed. Even if one or more of Ihe imported varieties should ultimately prove to be far superior to local varieties, the superiority will probably not be evident until seel has been harvested from the plots and planted again. From the standi point of the farmer, this is a matter lof cousiderabio Importance. Voreign seeds are often placed on the market at cheaper rates than local seed. In almost all case?, foreign seed is dear at any price, as Iho yield will not approach ti. it obtained from locally-grown seed. The acclimatising of foreign seed is not a work from which a farmer may hope to obtain much profitable return; it should bo left to tho Department of Agriculture. The farmer who is sowing luoerne should mand from the seedsman guarantees that the seed is free from dodder and other bid weed seeds, as well as from insect perfs and fungus diseases; that it has a good germination percentage, and that it was grown locally."