RETRIEVING NATIONAL DISASTER 27 



ish agriculturists. Reduced to the proportions 

 of a dwarf, Denmark fought against adversity 

 with the courage of a giant; and, crippled though 

 she was, she not only regained her strength, but 

 became a power in the commercial world with 

 which other nations have had seriously to reckon. 

 One of the first things done was to secure 

 such compensation as was possible for the loss of 

 Schleswig-Holstein by reclaiming and bringing 

 under cultivation the aforesaid moor, marsh, and 

 dune land, of which the surface of Jutland then 

 so largely consisted. In the days of ancient 

 history there were extensive forests in this part 

 of Denmark, with good pastures which, together 

 with the abundant crops of acorns, afforded 

 ample food for the swine that were kept there. 

 But in the course of the centuries the trees gave 

 way to brushwood, the brushwood was succeeded 

 by heaths, the pastures disappeared, and a pre- 

 viously fertile district became little better than a 

 desert waste, where, even so late as 1850, one 

 could wander for hours without seeing a single 

 human habitation. At that time the extent of 

 these Danish landes represented a total of over 

 5,000 square miles, and the conditions were but 

 very little improved, if at all, in 1866, when, 

 following on the war, one of the most practical 

 of Danish patriots, Colonel Dalgas, started the 



