DENMARK. 



second-class torpedo boats. Most of the ships 

 were built at Copenhagen. The Skjold, launched 

 in 1896. of 2,1(50 tons displacement, with 1) inches 

 of side armor, carries in a turret a single 26-ton 

 gun, with 3 quick firers as a secondary battery. 

 The deck-protected cruisers Heimdal, Hekla, and 

 Geiser have a displacement of 1,310 tons; Fyen, 

 2,740 tons; and Valkyrien, 3,020 tons. The latest 

 addition is the Herluf Trolle, of 3,470 tons. An- 

 other ship of the same design is building. 



Commerce and Production. The land laws 

 of Denmark forbid the consolidation of farms 

 into landed estates, and encourage the sub- 

 division of the existing farms into smaller 

 holdings. Tenant farmers have the fullest con- 

 trol of their land so long as they pay their 

 rent. The crop of rye in 1897 was 17,570,- 

 000 bushels; of barley, 18,580,000 bushels; of 

 oats, 34,140,000 bushels; of wheat, 3,368,000 

 bushels; of potatoes, 19,550,000 bushels; of beets 

 and other roots, 147.000,000 bushels. There were 

 exported 20.800 horses, 81,122 cattle, and 6,250 

 sheep in 1897. The production of alcohol in 1897 

 was 3,58<,000 gallons; of beet sugar, 48,345 tons. 

 The total value of imports in 1897 was 416,797,- 

 703 kroner: of exports, 328,121.076 kroner. The 

 domestic exports amounted to 243,500,000 kroner, 

 of which sum 197,300,000 kroner represent food 

 substances, 36,900,000 kroner raw materials, 

 7,200.000 kroner articles of personal or household 

 use, and 2,100,000 kroner manures, seeds, and 

 fodder. The imports for domestic consumption 

 were valued at the total of 325,900,000 kroner, of 

 which 78,100,000 kroner represent food sub- 

 stances, 103,500,000 kroner raw materials, 68,- 

 600,000 kroner articles of personal and domestic 

 use, 21,500,000 kroner fuel, and 54,200,000 kroner 

 manures, seeds, and fodder. The principal im- 

 ports in 1897 were cereals for 60,838,000 kroner, 

 textile goods for 50,065,000 kroner, colonial goods 

 for 39,477,000 kroner, pork, lard, eggs, and butter 

 for 35,701,000 kroner, metals and hardware for 

 32,466,000 kroner, wood and wood manufactures 

 for 24,212,000 kroner, coal for 22,413,000 kroner, 

 drinks for 7,001,000 kroner, and live animals for 

 2,531.000 kroner. The principal domestic exports 

 were butter, eggs, and pork products for 164,266,- 

 000 kroner, live animals for 27,617,000 kroner, 

 and cereals for 8,429,000 kroner. 



The amount of trade with each of the principal 

 countries in 1897 is given in kroner in the fol- 

 lowing table: 



The people of Denmark have developed the 

 principle of co-operation further than any people 

 in Europe, and by patriotic mutual efforts have 

 tided over the agricultural crisis by the entire 

 revolution of their rural industries, and have so 

 extended the cultivated area as to make room 

 for the population displaced by the annexation 

 : Schleswig-Holstein to Germany, as well as the 

 natural increment of a country that was grow- 

 ing prosperous while other farming populations 

 > growing poorer. The laws have been 

 to encourage, even compel, the division 

 ! land into small farms, and the yeomanry, 



instructed by means of the most complete and 

 elaborate system of agricultural schools and lec- 

 tures and model farms, are organized in co-opera- 

 tive associations for the purpose of working up 

 and marketing their produce. Their dairy prod- 

 ucts, provisions, and eggs are the main exports 

 of the country, the mainstay of its prosperity; 

 and as they are kept up to the highest commer- 

 cial standard, they find a steady market at high 

 prices in Great Britain. The earliest butter fac- 

 tories were started about 1880, and now Denmark 

 supplies Great Britain with butter to the amount 

 of over $35,000,000 a year. Cheesemaking was 

 tried later, and as the result of scientific study 

 and experimentation and of knowledge obtained 

 from all countries and disseminated freely, not 

 only by the agency of the Government, but by 

 the help and participation of individuals of vari- 

 ous classes, cheeses of many types are now made 

 in Denmark to perfection, and are exported to 

 Russia and other countries. So also with poul- 

 try farming. There was first a national associa- 

 tion formed for the improvement of the breed 

 of fowls and the promotion of the industry. Lec- 

 turers were sent through the country to instruct 

 the people who were interested, and sittings of 

 eggs were supplied from a central establishment 

 through various local branches. Later a co- 

 operative society, comprising nearly 20,000 mem- 

 bers, was formed for the purpose of marketing 

 eggs, which it collects throughout the country,, 

 marks, sorts into grades and sizes, packs secure- 

 ly, and ships to England, paying a stipulated 

 price on receiving the eggs from the members, 

 and dividing the profits among them at the end 

 of the year. This system has built up an export 

 trade in eggs amounting to $3,500,000 per annum. 

 The co-operative butter factories receive the milk 

 from the farmers, who have been taught to care 

 for their cattle* in the best manner and to feed 

 them economically. By the aid of the Govern- 

 ment and the wealthy classes the breed, which 

 has always been kept up to a high standard, has 

 been improved by selection, so that the export 

 of breeding stock has become an important 

 branch of trade. The butter has a reputation 

 second to none. To utilize the skim milk and 

 obtain the best value for the surplus grain the 

 breeding of hogs was introduced, the quality im- 

 proved by selection, as with other live stock, and 

 co-operative curing factories established to re- 

 ceive the fattened pigs from the farmer, giving 

 him current market rates, to turn them into 

 choice hams and bacon for the British market, 

 the fatter and grosser kinds going to Germany, 

 and to divide profits at the close of each year. 

 By this method the exports of hams and bacon 

 have increased to over 1,000,000 hundredweight 

 a year. Instead of exporting grain, as formerly, 

 Denmark now imports from Russia and the 

 United States in order to feed the hogs. The 

 highly developed system of stock farming and 

 mixed farming, which has taken the place of or- 

 dinary agriculture, has been brought about by 

 raising the intelligence of the people -And train- 

 ing them in a practical knowledge of rural eco- 

 nomics, and they have embraced with zest the 

 opportunities offered, making sacrifices to attend 

 the winter schools and serve an apprenticeship 

 in the training farms. 



The production of the country would not be 

 what it is except for an extraordinary scheme 

 of reclamation that originated with Lieut.-Col. 

 E. M. Dalgas, who had fought for the preserva- 

 tion of the duchies, and after their loss suggested 

 this plan of redeeming waste lands to make up 

 for the diminution of the national territory. An 



