368 



Forage Crops of Denmark. 



[JULY, 



themselves to submit to control by the Seed Testing Station all 

 seed sold. They guarantee purity, germination, maximum 

 proportion of weed seed, etc., and, should the tests made by the 

 Station prove that a bulk of seed sold is below guarantee, 

 compensation is automatically paid to all customers who have 

 been supplied with any of this bulk. The author gives a very 

 lucid exposition of the detailed working of this scheme and. 

 of the results obtained. Interesting though the scheme is, 

 it does not demand special attention here in England, for, if 

 the new Seed Bill becomes law, the British farmer will be 

 satisfactorily safeguarded in these respects. 



The last portion of the chapter, however, shows a unique 

 departure in seed trade practice, namely, the guarantee 

 voluntarily given by the Danish seed merchant that the seed 

 sold by him is of the strain indicated, and that full compensation 

 will be given to the buyer for the smaller yield resulting if it 

 should be found that seed of another and inferior strain has been 

 delivered. This development is the latest result of Helweg's 

 work. It arose as a consequence of the great financial value of 

 seed from strains of roots which had done weU in the compara- 

 tive trials. The reputable seedsmen found that certain of their 

 competitors were unscrupulously selling inferior seed as one of 

 the ist class strains, thus robbing them of the results of their 

 time and labour, as well as discrediting their wares. They saw 

 at once that only honest traders could give this guarantee, and 

 would have nothing to fear from its effects, whereas un- 

 scrupulous or inefficient dealers could not afford to take the 

 risk, and, by refraining from giving the guarantee, would 

 acknowledge themselves to be unreliable, and would in con- 

 sequence soon be deserted by their customers. This, in effect, 

 has happened, and where at first only root seed was so guaran- 

 teed, the practice has now spread to grasses and leguminous 

 seeds used in rotation leys. Mr. Faber does not mention it, 

 but preliminar}^ work is now on foot in Denmark with the 

 object of immediatety extending the guarantee of genuineness 

 to cereals also. 



Mr. Faber fully explains the method by which the guarantee 

 is checked, to the satisfaction of both trader and farmer. 



By this new publication the debt which British farming 

 already owes to Mr. Faber for his previous book, " Co-operation 

 in Danish Agriculture," has been still further increased. Every- 

 oncwho reads " Forage Crops in Denmark " will put it down — 

 and return to it — with a feeling of intense admiration for 

 Mr. Faber's great little country, not, it may be hoped, unmixed^ 

 with a resolve to profit by the lessons so ably described. 



