10 DENMARK - CO-OPERATION AND ASSOCIATION 



agricultural exhibitions ; the improvement of the conditions enjoyed by 

 agricultural labourers ; and the institution of bursaries for agricultural 

 education abroad, and of journeys for agricultural education at home and 

 abroad. 



The importance to Danish agriculture of the society's work appears how- 

 ever in particular in the reports of the various committees and institutions 

 it has foimded. It will be well briefly to notice the chief among them, thus 

 gaining an exact idea of the conditions of Danish agriculture. 



A first report is concerned with the breeding of domestic animals 

 and the diffusion of pedigree-books. These begin now to be kept, in the 

 case of cattle, not only by large producers but also by small farmers. 

 The task of the delegates of the society is to visit the breeders, to see 

 that they possess registers and to inspect these, making sure that all births 

 are registered and that the animals are entered accurate^, and to 

 establish registers for those who have none. 



In the case of pigs the society has continued the experiments underta- 

 ken in its three experimental stations as to the products obtained from ani- 

 mals of various races. The results of the experiments are communicated 

 immediately to the owners of the animals under observation. An immense 

 amount of material, very important to this flourishing Danish industry, is 

 thus accumulated at the stations. 



In the case of poultry, in which Denmark has a growing interest in view 

 of the high prices obtained for eggs and birds, the chief problems are those 

 of feeding, artificial hatching, the cleansing of poiUtry-houses and the 

 prevention of diseases. 



In order that scientific principles may be appUed to all of these the so- 

 ciety's representative spent seventy-eight days in 1915 in travelling in dif- 

 ferent parts of the coimtry, and he gave fifty- six lectures, inspected poultry- 

 yards, planned modern poultry-j^ards, opened exhibitions, and responded to 

 constant requests for advice.Many free courses were held in various dis- 

 tricts and were well attended. An effort was made to popularize the prin- 

 ciple that the exterior beauty of the birds should be less regarded than their 

 yield and the purity of their race. It is remarked that electiic machines 

 for aitificial hatching, the success of which seems to have been proved, are 

 increasingly used, and that artificial eggs are used for such hatching. The 

 society's delegates constantly exhort breeders to keep pedigree-books 

 and regular accounts. 



As regards goat-breeding the commission specially devoted to this in- 

 dustry' was founded in 1912 and has constituted new breeding societies of 

 which there are now thirty-four in the country. These local institutions, 

 which the society subsidizes, hold meetings, reported in the local newspapers, 

 for the discussion of problems connected with the industr}'. The commis- 

 sion recognizes the importance of pure-bred bucks and has interested large 

 breeders in placing a certain number of them at the disposal of small farmers, 

 thus obtaining noteworthy results. The commission has further made, on 

 the most strictly scientific principles, a research into the milk provided by 



