82 FOKAGE CROPS IN DENMARK 



the seed was sold. A few addresses are chosen at random, 

 having regard to the number and size of the consignments, 

 and to these customers the Seed Testing Station writes asking 

 for samples of one or more of the consignments of seed received 

 by them. Double paper bags are sent with the request, the 

 inner bag bearing printed rules for taking samples and a 

 declaration to be signed by the customer and witnesses. The 

 Seed Testing Station also draws samples at the merchants' 

 warehouses from stock seed ready for delivery and seals 

 these with the seal of the Seed Testing Station. The samples 

 are tested for purity, germination, proportion of weed seed, 

 and so on. Each year a full explanation is printed and dis- 

 tributed showing the conditions under which the scheme is 

 worked, the maximum percentage deviation (" latitude ") 

 allowed from the guaranteed purity, germination, proportion 

 of weed seed, weight of corn, and so on, how the compensation 

 is calculated which may be due to the buyer, in which cases the 

 buyer may refuse delivery, in which cases the question of com- 

 pensation, generally fixed by the Station and accepted by both 

 parties, may be left to the decision of the Courts, and so on. 



The result of the analyses of samples of their goods is 

 communicated to the various firms, and at the close of the year 

 a summary is drawn up showing for each firm separately the 

 result of the analyses of all samples taken from their shipments, 

 the deficiency in purity and germination entitling buyers to 

 compensation, and the amount of compensation in percentage 

 of the price of the consignments. Each firm sending in samples 

 will receive a copy of this summary with full explanations, and 

 the firm is under obligation to communicate to all who have 

 bought their seed under guarantee the result of the analyses 

 of their seed, and to send to the Seed Testing Station a signed 

 declaration that they have done so. The correctness of this 

 declaration is tested by means of an enquiry from the Station 

 to some of the customers as to whether they have received the 

 information and the compensation to which they are entitled 

 under the Rules of the Scheme. Annual reports are published 

 in Tidsskrift /or Planteavl, giving summarised details of this 

 " automatic control." 



The following figures have been culled from the report for 



