PURE SEEDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 October 1920, Page 5

PURE SEEDS.

PROVISIONS OF NEW BILL. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Oct. 28. TJje Seed Bill contains a number of provisions designed to secure the purity of seeds offered for sale. All seeds so offered are deemed to be intended for Bowing, with the exception of cereals, peas, beans, and linseed, unless the purchaser states in writing at the time of the sale that they are not intended to be sown. The kinds excepted above are only to be deemed for sowing/if the purchaser informs the vendor of that fact.

No person is to offer for sale the following seeds: Blackberry, Oalifomian thistle, dodder, ragwort, ox-eye daisy, sweet briar, foxglove, pennyroyal, charloch, or gorse. Not only is this stipulated, but it is to be ari offence to sell any of those seeds mixed with other feeds which have been sold under the conditions laid down by the Bill. When any lot of seed of more than fourteen pounds in weight is sold, the vendor must within tlixce days of delivery furnish the purchaser with an Invoice showing the dale of the sale, the marks, if any, on the package, the name of the seed, and, in the case of named agricultural varieties, the name of the variety, the weight of each kind or variety included, the percentage capacity of germination, and the percentage by weight of extraneous seeds, and in tho case of those forbidden to be sold by the Bill the names of any lontaincd in the lot. Tffe purchaser or an inspector may, subject to certain conditions, take a sample of the seed and forward it to •the seed analyst for testing. The report of the analyst on any sample may, in the discretion of the Minister for Agriculture, be published. Non-compliance with the stipulation regarding furnishing particulars of the seed, or selling send which, to the detriment of the purchaser, does not correspond with the description given, its made an offence punishable by a fine of £lO for the first convictidtt and i£so for every subsequent offence.