viii FOBEWOKD 



an interest in improving seed which has had the best effects 

 on the grass farming in Denmark. Denmark used to import 

 grass and clover seeds from abroad in large quantities. Among 

 other importations was that of Irish Italian Eye Grass, but it 

 was soon found that the Danish strains were the more prolific 

 and better able to resist rust. The State Committee on Plant 

 Culture decided in 1908 to arrange for comparative trials of 

 strains of grass and clover seeds on the same lines as had 

 proved so successful with roots. The methods by which those 

 trials were carried out and the great success which has attended 

 them will be found in " Forage Crops in Denmark." Seedsmen 

 entered their best strains for competition. Farmers, who had 

 developed a good strain, sent it to be tested. At first the 

 seedsmen were suspicious of these trials, but when it was 

 discovered with what great care they were carried out by a 

 Committee of the State Department of Plant Culture, their 

 suspicions were allayed ; and the largest merchants now 

 regard this competition as an indispensable aid to honest and 

 genuine trade. The book must be read to ascertain how the 

 dishonest and ignorant seed merchants and bad seed have been 

 eliminated, and the honest and enterprising seed firms and seed 

 growers have been encouraged. 



The last chapter of the book describes how a buyer of seed 

 is assured of receiving the seed of the particular strain which 

 he demands. The reader will learn how twenty-one firms and 

 associations dealing in seed and using an aggregate quantity 

 corresponding to two-thirds of all the seed used in Denmark 

 have now voluntarily submitted themselves to a Control, with 

 the result that there is no other country in the world where 

 the control of the seed used by the farmers is so extensive and 

 so careful. The Danish Seed Testing Station was the first in 

 the world, and it is by and through this Station that the control 

 of seeds is accomplished. 



The description of how, partly by educational propaganda, 

 the pressure of public opinion, and to some extent by legislation, 

 the seed trade of Denmark was put upon a sound, and, from 

 our point of view, an enviable basis, is one of special interest 

 to the farmer and seed merchant of this country. It is only 

 lately that an attempt has been made to control the purity and 



