54 FORAGE CEOPS IN DENMARK 



was said on an earlier page that the fact of a strain being placed 

 in Class I. does not necessarily prove that it will remain a 

 Class I. strain. The Vilmorin strains which were in Class I. in 

 1900-01 were all declassed during the next competition. Two 

 " other " Vilmorin strains came in Class I. in the next com- 

 petition, 1904-05, but were again declassed in 1908-09, and 

 none of the Vilmorin strains have been found worthy of a Class I. 

 certificate in the competitions held in 1908-09 and from 1911 to 

 1913. Similarly with those of unknown origin. The five 

 Class I. strains in 1900-01 were all declassed in the next period. 

 Five "other" strains were placed in Class I. in 1904-05, but 

 all but one were declassed in the next period. In this period, 

 1908-09, one from the previous period and one from 1900-01, 

 together with one new strain, appeared in Class I., but all three 

 were declassed in the next period. It does not necessarily 

 follow that these declassed strains had deteriorated ; they may 

 have gone down in class chiefly because competition became 

 keener as the strains of the Lawson Barres group were improved 

 and moved up. And a remarkable characteristic of these 

 Lawson Barres strains is this, that when once they reach Class I. 

 they maintain their position, always supposing, of course, that 

 they are grown under proper conditions with continued selection. 

 We will, therefore, deal more fully with these strains. 



The Ferritslev strain is descended from seed which Hans 

 Tygesen, owner of a peasant farm in Ferritslev, Funen, bought 

 in 1883 from Chr. P. Jacobsen. As Jacobsen (Markfr0kontoret) 

 at that time did not grow the Lawson Barres for seed, Tygesen 

 must have bought seed which Jacobsen had received from 

 Lawson. The strain was first entered for competition in 1904, 

 the owners being The Ferritslev Seed Growers' Association. 



The Rosted Strain is derived from stock seed grown by 

 Markfr0kontoret from Lawson's seed. In 1885 a village 

 schoolmaster ! named Fraas " bought of this stock seed at 

 3s. per Ib." He grew stock seed for Markfr0kontoret, and from 

 this seed another village schoolmaster, Michelsen, in Sludstrup, 

 Sealand, bought seed in 1887, and from him some stock seed 



1 By Royal Decree of 1814 village schoolmasters were, as part of their salary, 

 to have a small-holding sufficient to feed two cows and six sheep. Many school- 

 masters have cultivated their holdings very well and set an example to the 

 peasants in their village. 



