GUAEANTEES IN THE TEADE IN SEED 98 



and the weather warranted. This was a distinct step forward, 

 a new departure in the trade in root seet, a result so to speak 

 of the Comparative Cultivations. It was, of course, only possible 

 for F. D. B. to give this guarantee because they had the seed 

 they sold grown under inspection from stock seed supplied by 

 themselves. But many other seed merchants dealt in seed 

 produced by or for themselves from stock seed of strains tested 

 by the Comparative Cultivations at the Experimental Stations 

 as described above. These other firms were, therefore, in a 

 position to give the same warranty as given by the P. D. B. 

 But it required a broad-minded merchant to take the plunge, 

 so to speak, of going against the universal custom of seed mer- 

 chants and to undertake a guarantee for genuineness of strain 

 in root seed. This man was Chr. Daehnfeldt, of Odense. His 

 father was a well known gardener there ; the son extended the 

 business, took up the cultivation of horticultural and other 

 seeds on a large scale, improved several strains, also of root 

 seed which came in Class I. at the Comparative Cultivations, 

 gradually developed an extensive export business in seed of all 

 kinds, and is now growing commercially different kinds of 

 flowering bulbs and other cultivations new to the country. 

 The firm has been converted into a joint stock company, 

 L. Daehnfeldt, Ltd., Odense, and is the largest of its kind in 

 Denmark. In 1904 Chr. Daehnfeldt had formed the Society 

 of Wholesale Dealers in Eoot Seed for the mutual protection 

 of their interest, the members of which agreed to refuse com- 

 pensation for faulty production beyond the amount of the 

 invoice. In 1912, Dsehnfeldt, who was still the chairman, 

 induced the Society to adopt the Guarantee of Genuineness in 

 the trade in root seed, and in the spring of 1913 root seed was 

 offered for sale under seal with a guarantee that it was of the 

 strain indicated, and that full compensation would be given 

 to the buyer for the smaller yield resulting if it should be found 

 that seed of another and inferior strain had been sold. This 

 applied to seed of mangels, swedes, turnips and carrots. Under 

 legal form samples were drawn from every consignment of root 

 seed sold in 1913 with this guarantee, the samples were sown 

 by the Eoot Seed Commissioner of the State, Helweg, in control 

 fields in order to be able in the autumn to decide, from inspection 



