12 DENMARK - CO-OPERATIOX AND ASSOCIATION 



for agricultural machines and implements. The usefulness of the function 

 of the official responsible for this department appears in the fact that after 

 several months it was necessarj^ to place a sum of 3,500 crowns at his dispo- 

 sal, in order that he might pay for the services of various technical assistants, 

 one person being no longer sufficient to meet all the demands. The rules 

 which regulate his action prescribe that he shall keep himself au courant as to 

 all progress made in the matter of agricvdtural machines and implements, 

 and acquaint the public therewith in the fittest manner, experimenting there- 

 fore on the most suitable properties. He must also respond to <J1 requests 

 for explanations as to the matters within his competence. Ever>' year 

 he must send the society a report on his activity. Normally the »State has 

 no direct relations with the official responsible for consultations although 

 he is a State functionary', but deals with him only through the medium 

 of the society which superintends and pays him. An office of consultation 

 has also been created in Russia. The official stationed there has those du- 

 ties in relation to agriculture which fall in Italy to the commercial delegates 

 abroad. 



This new office was created in 1914. It has aimed at encouraging the 

 exchange of agricultural products and the means of agricultural production 

 between Russia and Denmark, and making public in the two countries the 

 general and special economic conditions of their agriculture, at SHbtuitting 

 proposals tending to encourage such exchange to the ministry, at answering 

 the relevant enquiries of public bodies and of individuals in the two States, 

 and at counteracting in the Russian press all information which might be 

 detrimental to Danish agriculture and its products. In 1915 the delegate 

 undertook a long journey through all Russia in order to study the conditions 

 most favourable to the sale of grain, which Denmark produces largely, and 

 thus to supersede in this market Germany, hitherto almost a monopolist 

 in respect of this article ol merchandise. 



A long account is published in the society's annual report of this jour- 

 ney which had good results. The delegate succeeded in establishing com- 

 m.ercial relations between Dani.sh producers and Russian consumers and 

 in concluding numerous sales of seeds of vegetables, flowering plants and 

 trees, of animals for reproduction and of agricultural machines. For pur- 

 poses of jjropaganda the society has published two pamphlets on experience 

 in cultivating plants in Denmark and on several noteworthy forms of Danish 

 agriculture. The official responsible for the service of consultation trans- 

 lated these into Russian and circulated them largely. As well as a series 

 of articles in Rus.sian agricultural periodicals, which make Danish agricul- 

 ture known, he has jjiublished others in Dnnish periodicals, and he has person- 

 ally undertaken a large propaganda for the dissemination of knowledge 

 of the conditions of Russian agriculture. Thanks to all these efforts, and 

 in spite of obstjjcles raised by the war, many Danish producers have been 

 able to find a footing in Russia and establish with this country sure relations 

 which will soon vield excellent results. 



