Banned wagon
A weekly survey of the things our rulers want to prohibit IF you find a policeman sniffing around your allotment, the chances are that he is not after your marijuana but your marrow. In the debate over whether or not soft and hard drugs should be legalised, many have overlooked the government's heavy-handed tactics against some extremely soft substances.
Last year, Ferme de Sainte Marthe, a seed supplier in Surrey, tempted cus- tomers with some exotic varieties of let- tuce. Gardeners were delighted to discover 'Devil's Ears', 'Drops of Blood' and 'Ice Queen' lettuces. The result? A visit to Ferme de Sainte Marthe from Maffs 'vegetable-buster' squad. The let- tuces, they announced, were not on the national register of plant varieties and it was therefore illegal to sell or distribute them. Was it that they carried some genetic mutation that would lay waste to every market garden should it be allowed to spread? Not a bit of it. Under EU leg- islation, all types of lettuces grown com- mercially now have to be registered, so that innovative plant-breeders who devise new varieties are not cheated of their royalties by imitators.
Fair enough, but varieties such as Devil's Ears have been grown in French gardens since anyone can remember: why were all existing types of lettuce not put on the register? In any case, most of Ferme de Sainte Marthe's cus- tomers are not commercial growers but allotment-holders. Needless to say, the French have devised a more flexible approach. 'If you go to France you can still find them on sale to amateurs,' says Richard Rickson of the company.
Ross Clark
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