Dairy Suggestions fro^rn Europe. 215 



butter and cheese, which they place on the European markets in suc- 

 cessful competition with that produced in America on land of less than 

 one-fifth the value. They do this in spite of the fact that they cannot 

 produce the amount of digestible nutrients per acre that we can with 

 either corn or alfalfa. 



The secret of their success is easily understood, and may be stated 

 in a few words — efficient cows, excellent care, co-operation and superior 

 quality of butter and cheese. 



DAIRYING IN DENMARK. 



Denmark is a coimtry of small land holdings. The chief occupa- 

 tion of the Danes is dairj^ing, and in wealth per capita, Denmark is next 

 to Great Britain, but has the advantage of having this wealth distrib- 

 uted among the many. One-half of the two and one-half millions of 

 people in Denmark are engaged in agriculture. These self-respecting 

 farmers live in a style of refinement and comfort that is surprising. 

 They are intelligent, industrious and honest, and their system of co- 

 operation is based on these conditions. Their interests are those of a 

 small nation given up largely to one occupation and one aim so that the 

 difficulties of one are experienced by the many, and that which is 

 beneficial to one is a benefit to the coimtry as a whole. 



It is important for the American dairyman to consider briefly the 

 recent history of the agricultural conditions of Denmark and what has 

 brought about the marvelous daiiy development. After the Napole- 

 onic wars the country was worn and wasted. When only partly re- 

 covered, the Prussian war of 1864 again brought great agricultural and 

 commercial depression. At this time the chief agricultural pursuit 

 was wheat raising, and it did not take the shrewd, far-seeing mind of 

 the Dane long to discover that a continuance of wheat raising on the 

 already worn and impoverished soil was not in accordance with sound, 

 economic principle. Some radical changes in their general methods 

 of farming were imperative if they were to prosper in any marked de- 

 gree. It is because of these facts, coupled with their present prosperous 

 conditions, that every American farmer should study what has taken 

 place in Denmark, agriculturally, in the last forty years. Some of the 

 factors that led to their success are here noted. 



The history of the rise of dairying in Denmark is one of the most 

 interesting and instructive chapters in agriculture. It is only a gen- 

 eration ago that the Danes changed from wheat raising to livestock, 

 and the cows of the country were very inferior dairy animals, but by a 

 course of careful, persistent and systematic selection and co-operation 



