Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - III. Rural Husbandry. Introd. by H. Juhlin Dannfelt - 4. Public and Private Institutions for the Advancement of Agriculture. Introd. by W. Flach - Seed Control Offices. By A. Vilke - Sowing Seed Question. By Hj. Nilsson
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sowing seed question.
149
the Government. The instructions now in force for seed control offices, supported
by public means are issued by the Board of Agriculture and date from the 10
June, 1914; they are accompanied by special rules for seed control examinations.
These instructions, when suitable, have been adopted in Denmark and Norway
too. The total number of analyses carried out at the Swedish seed control
offices amounted during the working season V’ 1913—30<g 1914 to 17 100, while
5 708 482 kilograms of seeds, or (37 602 sacks were officially sealed. During
the year 1913 there was received from public means, in addition to the
above-mentioned 10 000 kronor from the State, a sum of 16 610 kronor from various
bodies in the different läns.
Sowing Seed (Question.
At the close of the "seventies" there began a new period for plant cultivation
in Swedish agriculture. The extensive export of grain, which, during the few
previous decades, had formed the chief source of income for the farmers, began
gradually to decline in consequence of the pressure caused by the increasing
supplies of cheaper grain sent to the European markets from trans-oceanic
countries. The immediate result of this was that far greater attention was paid
to cattle-breeding and dairy farming, but there also arose an endeavour to
utilize the advantages — much spoken of at the time — of a northern climate
for the production of good sowing-seed, to create a fresh branch of export —
that of grain and seed for sowing purposes in more southern countries. This
question was discussed with the greatest eagerness at special seed congresses and
exhibitions; local seed-cultivation and sowing-seed associations were formed, and
sample shipments were made to most of the countries of Europe.
The result of this experiment was, however, quite different from what had been
expected, and it became evident that it was necessary first to procure better
and more prolific varieties before there could be any possibility of taking up the
struggle on the seed markets of the continent. It was to solve this problem
that the Svalöv Association was formed, which then became the body that — more
than any other institution in the country — brought the sowing-seed question
to a position which nobody could have anticipated at the beginning.
Gradually, however, new conditions arose, which once more called for fresh
efforts in the sowing-seed question, and led to the formation of new seed
cultivation associations, whose field of operations was a more restricted one. In
consequence of an increasing import of red clover seed, of the ordinary, greatly
varying qualities found in the world’s markets, and which were seldom suitable
for the climatic conditions over the greater part of Sweden, a general sense of
insecurity had gradually grown up with regard to the Swedish trade in this
kind of seed, and, as a result, in the whole department of the grass
cultivation of the country. The situation, aggravated by the failure of the clover-seed
harvest in 1902, became a most threatening one; a movement was aroused in
farming circles which soon led to the adoption of energetic measures for the
preservation of the valuable resources possessed by Sweden in its native låte
clover, and to secure an increased supply of seed of this kind.
As the result of an investigation made by the Board of Agriculture, a State
grant has been annually made since 1907, amounting at first to 15 000 kronor,
but at present to 20 000 kronor, to the agricultural societies which had taken
steps in the direction mentioned above, especially by the organization of seed
cultivation associations, which could take the matter in hand direct. As a result,
15 such associations have sprung into existence in various parts of the country,
which now endeavour in various ways to promote the production and spread of
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