Danmarks Handel og Industri

30 Frø. — Seed. — Semence. — Samen. The production of seed in Denmark has been increasing since 1890, so that the production of some kinds of seed has exceeded the quantity actually needed to cover the home consumption. At first root seed was mainly cultivated, but from 1906 the cultivation of grass seed has been rapidly increasing. At the same time as the cultiva- tion of seed was commenced the State Experiment Stations started experimental cultivation to improve strains of the various kinds of seeds. The »Tidsskrift for Planteavl« (Cultivation of Plants Review) has during the past years published the results of these experiments in im- proving pedigree strains. The said experiments have demonstrated that the best Danish pedigree strains very often afford a better and much surer yield than the foreign strains, a yield of the best often exceeds the poorest strains by a value of 100 Kr. or more per hectare. In no other country have such experiments in improving the strain been instituted so early and so systematically as in Denmark. The strains are tested through several years (3 to 5 years), and each year at three to six State Experi- ment Stations. Therefore seed merchants and farmers pay essentially higher prices for such improved strains than for ordinary varieties of the kinds of seed concerned. The domestic seed trade as well as the export trade from Denmark, is based in the main on analyses with respect to purity, germinating power etc., which analyses are made at the »Stats- frøkontrollen« (State Seed Laboratory), which is now the oldest seed testing station in the world (etablished 1871), at which institution circa 20,000 seed examinations are made annually. The Seed Testing Committee appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture has laid down rules for defects with respect to purity, germinating power etc. In compliance with Sec. 43 of the Purchase Act of April 6th 1906 and the ordinary rules regarding payments of compensation according to Danish law, a seller, who has delivered seed not up to sample (with regard to pedigree, origin and the like) is bound to pay the purchaser a com- pensation that will cover his aggregate expenses and the loss he has suffered on account of the fact that the goods were not up to the contract, irrespec- tive of the fact that the compensation may exceed the invoice amount. For the purpose of the liability to pay compensation the following arrangement has been made in so far as trade in root seeds under guarantee tally on foreign markets is concerned. Before shipment of the goods an authorized weigher and gauger draws three samples out of each shipment of root seed, after which he seals all the bags with his official seal and sends the three sealed samples to the purchaser, to the seller and to the