EXPORTING SEED
Jane McGary (Sat, 15 Nov 2014 09:53:30 PST)

When sending seeds overseas or to Canada, I usually write "Dried
botanical material" on the customs form, or sometimes I write "Dried
seeds of cultivated origin," on the principle that the longer the
words are, the less they will register on the consciousness of an
inspector. Some senders write "Botanical material for research
purposes." All perfectly true, especially if there might be a little
chaff in the seed packet. Let's hope there are no fauna beyond
microscopic ones (which arrive windborne across thousands of
kilometres of ocean anyway).

I once received some seeds in a slide case, with actual slides at
each end so it would rattle convincingly, which made me reflect that
some of us did not grow up in the 1960s for nothing.

I do now have proper APHIS import paperwork and can inflict it on
honest seed purveyors everywhere -- until our new Congress defunds the program.

Jane McGary

At 07:51 AM 11/15/2014, you wrote: