THE use of winter cover crops in the South has been displaced to a large extent by oats, rye, and other lower priced seed crops, which provide winter grazing for the South's expanding livestock population.

The need for legumes as a source of nitrogen is being met by more extensive use of commercial fertilizer. Lack of Government price supports for seed production is another factor that helped accelerate the trend away from the use of the usual legume winter cover crops as soil builders.

The use of several grasses was on the increase during the 1950's orchardgrass, chewings and red fescue, bent-grass, Merion Kentucky bluegrass, sudangrass, and ryegrass. The increase in this group was offset partly by the declining use of several older grasses, chiefly timothy, redtop, smooth bromegrass, and crested wheatgrass. Little or no change was indicated for tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass.

By 1950 the United States attained export status in seeds, but we import many kinds from almost every corner of the earth. It is likely that this relationship will continue, because certain kinds can be obtained in the desired amounts at less cost from other countries.

For instance, we have depended on Denmark for our supply of seeds of Danish bluegrass (Poo trivialis) and orchardgrass; on Australia for much of our seed of dallisgrass; on Canada for several kinds, including red fescue, sweetclover, bromegrass, alsike clover, Canadian wildrye and Canada bluegrass; and on France and Italy for some of our seeds of crimson clover and birdsfoot trefoil, when they have exportable surpluses. Japan is a regular supplier of flower and vegetable seeds, as are Denmark, the Netherlands, and France.

Japan is our best market in the Far East for seeds of grasses and legumes. Thailand buys a large part of her vegetable seeds from the United States. Our merchants supply a goodly proportion of the vegetable and flower seeds needed in South American countries, as well as seeds of some kinds of grasses and clovers.

Our expansion in the production of alfalfa seed in the Pacific Coast States has given us a major share of the world's market. The United States produces alfalfa seed for several countries, including France, Germany, Greece, Sweden, and Canada that is, we are growing seed of their domestic varieties on a contract basis.

Formerly the United States was the major source of Kentucky bluegrass seed, but now we compete with Denmark and the Netherlands. Because of our oversupply of seeds of common ryegrass in the 1950's, we exported varying amounts to European markets. Perennial ryegrass seed also moved abroad in some volume, as did bent-grass.

Seeds of Ladino clover, which we formerly imported from Italy, are produced in California and Oregon in substantial volume. There was a period when it was in oversupply in the United States and was cheaper than whiteclover seeds, and several countries imported Ladino seeds from the United States. We are now exporting fairly large quantities of seeds of Ladino clover to Europe and Japan. Chewings fescue, similarly, was imported from New Zealand, but now we are the major exporter.

We exported seeds of orchardgrass up to about 1949. Then it became apparent that orchardgrass, well managed, is a good grass for pasture and hay and fits well in grass-legume mixtures. Our domestic seed production has expanded, but we also import millions of pounds of seeds each year to supplement the domestic crop. Meadow fescue is another crop whose seeds we formerly exported, but now import to meet our limited needs. We can buy it so cheaply that our farmers do not consider it a worthwhile crop to produce.

What has been said about foreign trade in seeds of grasses and legumes applies to a considerable extent to seeds of such field crops as vetch, Austrian winter peas, and rape.

High costs of land, labor, and equipment have affected the production of some of our vegetable and flower seeds.

We could produce our supply of spinach seeds in the Pacific Northwest, but it is cheaper to buy them from Denmark and the Netherlands. Consequently, much is imported. Some of the hybrid seeds are imported from countries where labor costs are lower than in the United States. This trend may continue, and imports could be increased from countries where production is dependable.

The interest in American-grown seeds is not accidental. During the Second World War, our Allies obtained large amounts of seeds to meet their needs. This was continued for some years after the war under the United Nations National Recovery Act program, and many thousands of tons of seeds were shipped to oversea countries to help them restore production.

THE VARIOUS U.S. AGENCIES charged with working in other countries to help improve economic conditions tested many American-bred varieties of crops in the foreign experiment stations. In addition, other Government agencies have sent seeds abroad, as have private firms. It is not strange therefore that many American varieties have demonstrated their superiority and are in demand.

This is true of our varieties of hybrid corn. Corn is widely grown, and many American varieties have been found to be greatly superior to the native kinds. Shipments of hybrid seed corn attained considerable volume, but by the mid- 1950's, when some countries began to produce their own hybrids, there was a noticeable decline in exports. Except in countries where the acreage of corn is small, this decline in exports can be expected to continue, although the question of relative costs enters at this point. This is especially true since much of our hybrid seed corn exports represents the less desirable sizes that would otherwise be sent to the feed-grain markets. Much of the seed therefore is marketed at a substantial discount below seed corn prices in the United States, but still sufficiently above the cash-grain market to be attractive to some of the growers of hybrid seed. Because there is no question as to the genetic qualities and the size is of little concern where hand planting is practiced, these low-cost seeds should continue to be attractive to the importers.

THOMAS J. KUZELKA is Head of the Seed Section, Field Crops Statistics Branch, Agricultural Marketing Service. He is a graduate of Doane College and the University of Nebraska.

W. H. YOUNGMAN was a market specialist in seeds in the Foreign Agricultural Service when he retired in 1959. He joined the Department in 1926.