Small seeds in New Zealand farm management

Abstract

There is no clear-cut definition of small seeds. It is a term which has grown up in this country to cover in one classification a number of grass and clover seeds which have assumed a greater and greater importance in the agricultural scene in recent years. As far as is known no agricultural authority has ever said that this or that shall or shall not be classified as a small seed; but as time passes and the term is used more and more its meaning becomes clarified and it is accepted as part of the language. At present it appears to the writer that it embraces all the ryegrasses, cocksfoot, timothy, crested dogs tail, chewing fescue and browntop and all the clovers, white, broad red, montgomery red, alsike, subterranean and strawberry. It is probably true that it also includes such seeds as meadow fescue, phalaris tuberosa and even Yorkshire fog, and possibly a number of others, but they have not assumed sufficient importance to be included here. The case of lucerne, rape and chou moellier is interesting as they are borderline between cash crops and the small seeds proper. They have been omitted from this summary. A balanced picture of small seeds in New Zealand is attempted here but inevitably any summary in agriculture is coloured to a certain extent by the writer's own experience and this may well be no exception. Accordingly Canterbury may appear to receive rather more, and the North Island ryegrass and far southern chewings fescue and dogstail rather less than their just dues.