1909.] 



Seed Control in Denmark. 



769 



These machines are frequently stopped before they have run 

 clear, and grain remains lodged in many parts, so that mix- 

 ing inevitably results when threshing is started on some 

 other farm. Another cause is the seed drill, which is fre- 

 quently started without the cups, &c, being properly cleared. 

 Farmers, therefore, should be careful to see that threshing 

 machine drivers thoroughly clear their machines before start- 

 ing, and that their men treat the drills in the same way. 



Care should also be taken to see that grain intended for 

 seed is put into perfectly clean sacks (oat grains especially 

 cling to the inside of sacks of an open texture). 



Mr. Consul L. C. Liddell in his repcrt on the trade and 

 commerce of Denmark for 1907 (Foreign Office Reports, 



Annual Series, No. 4089) states that the 

 Seed Control in demand for good serviceable seed has 

 Denmark. been brisk, and there is but little inferior 



seed now sold in Denmark. Credit for 

 this state of affairs must be attributed to the "Dansk Fro- 

 kontrol" (Danish Seed Control) ; this control was initiated by 

 Mr. Hoist, an agricultural expert and editor of a newspaper 

 dealing with agricultural questions. He originally published 

 his scheme in 1869, and it was at once adopted in Germany, 

 where a controlling station was started in Tharand, in Saxony. 

 This proving successful, Mr. Hoist opened an office in Copen- 

 hagen in 1871. During the first years, however, he did not 

 cover his expenses, and as these increased, owing to a mere 

 detailed examination of seeds being necessary, he was com- 

 pelled to turn for assistance to the Royal Agricultural Society. 

 From this source he received first a yearly subvention of £55, 

 which was afterwards raised to £110. In 1891, after Mr. 

 Hoist's death, the institution was taken over by the State ^as a 

 department under the Minister of Agriculture. In 1896 a sum 

 °f £3j 1 oo was voted in the budget for the erection of a build- 

 ing. Since 1896 the State expenses in connection with the 

 control have been about ^360 per annum. The analyses 

 are carried out in accordance with the regulations issued by 

 the Minister of Agriculture, 16th March, 1901. The result 

 has been that the leading firms in the seed trade now sell 



