DANES TO THE FORE 199 



at Kourgan in 1895, but still more effectually 

 was the attention of foreign buyers called to it 

 by an exhibition organized at St. Petersburg, 

 in 1899, by the Imperial Economic Society. 



No sooner did the Danes realize the possi- 

 bilities of Siberia than they went there and 

 began to start butter factories on the same lines 

 as in Denmark — with this difference, however, 

 that they did not attempt to bring the Russians 

 into a scheme of co-operation, but preferred to 

 set up proprietary dairies instead. There was 

 effective organization, but the peasants were 

 paid for the supplies they brought to the central 

 stations, without sharing in the profits. They 

 were helped, however, in other ways, capital 

 being advanced to them, in case of need, for 

 the purchase of stock, etc., and the business 

 grew with great rapidity. Starting at Kourgan, 

 it soon spread to Omsk, Kainsk, Ob or Novo- 

 Nikolaievsk, Barnoul, Biisk, Minussinsk, and 

 other centres, where it now constitutes the main 

 resource of the population. In the Barnoul, or 

 Altai, region, especially, the industry has under- 

 gone great expansion. The quantity of butter 

 despatched from Ob station in 1899 was only 

 six railway truck-loads, or 738 cwt. ; whereas in 

 1902 the total from this one centre was 995 

 truck-loads, or 101,000 cwt. At Omsk there 



