=The economic importance of seeds= is perhaps greater than that of any other farm commodity. Seeds are potential plants. Practically all staple foods are derived, either directly or indirectly, from plants. A shortage of seed in any country or section of a country may mean a shortage of food. The commercial supply of seeds in the United States safeguards every section of this country against a deficiency in the necessary requirements for planting annually and indirectly helps to maintain the stocks of food at uniform levels. * * * * * =The best commercial grades= of red clover, alfalfa, and timothy seed test 99.5% or better in purity. _Hay and Feed_ HAY PRICES REGISTER ADVANCE IN NEW YORK MARKET. Prices in Most Markets Unchanged Under Continued Light Receipts--Demand for Top Grades Only. A continued light movement of hay to market prevailed during the week ending Oct. 1 and with the exception of one or two markets prices were but little changed from the preceding week. The average price of No. 1 timothy at the principal timothy markets is now about $23.50 per ton, with the alfalfa average price about $22.75. This is $10 less per ton for both kinds than the prevailing average price Oct. 1, 1920. There is a fair local demand in limited quantities for the better grades of hay but scarcely any shipping demand and the lower grades are neglected. Good pastures and large local supplies of forage are important factors and will probably curtail demand for some time. Receipts at nine of the important hay markets were practically the same as for the preceding week and totaled only a little over 1,000 cars compared with over 2,000 cars in the same markets at the corresponding time last year. The following table gives receipts of hay in several important markets for the weeks ending Sept. 24 and Oct. 1, 1921, and Oct. 2, 1920. --------------------+------------------+-------- | 1921 | 1920 Cities. +------------------+-------- |Oct. 1.| Sept. 24.| Oct. 2. --------------------+-------+----------+-------- New York | 73 | 164 | 359 Pittsburgh | 50 | 55 | 186 Cincinnati | 93 | 66 | 219 Chicago | 184 | 195 | 207 Minneapolis-St. Paul| 67 | 36 | 18 St. Louis | 152 | 105 | 215 Kansas City | 189 | 139 | 1,019 San Francisco | 78 | 107 | ... Los Angeles | 144 | 150 | 78 --------------------+-------+----------+-------- TIMOTHY UP $4 AT NEW YORK.