PASTURE SEEDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 September 1938, Page 3

PASTURE SEEDS

SAFEGUARDS FOR FARMERS. STATEMENT BY MINISTER. By Telegraph—Press Association. WELLINGTON, September 2. The Hon W. Lee Martin (Minister of Agriculture) today issued a statement in regard to safeguards for pasture seeds. He explains that certified seed has reference to type only and that the purity and germination certificate is a statement showing an analysis of the sample tested by the official seed testing station at Palmerston North for purity and germination capacity. While it is true that all seed certified for type has also been tested for purity and germination this is true also of the bulk of uncertified seed sold by recognised seed merchants. He satys officers of the Department are always willing to assist farmers to interpret the analysis figures if any difficulty in this respect is experienced and a farmer purchasing weed-infest-ed seed is not taking advantage of the safeguards in existence for his protection. Many farmers are prone to purchase “inferior” seed in the fallacious belief that it is cheap. By sending to the seed testing station at Palmerston North small samples of several lines of seed a farmer can obtain an opinion not only of their purity and germinative capacity but also of their relative unit values.