92 RURAL DENMARK 



will keep for more than forty-eight hours without the 

 help of sterilisation or preservatives. 



Of bottles alone, I may add, in order to give some 

 idea of the activities of this society, about 16,000 

 have to be dealt with between 10 p.m. and 1.30 a.m. 

 on every night of the year. 



As for the scene in the great dp6t, it must be 

 imagined for it cannot be described. Everywhere 

 white-robed people are moving and something is 

 being done, whilst the noise of machinery, of clink- 

 ing bottles and clattering cans, is enough to over- 

 power the unaccustomed ear. Never did I find 

 myself in a place where it was more difficult to 

 acquire information and take notes. 



After the infant milk I inspected the dairy, where 

 all cream left over is converted into butter, of which 

 about 600 lbs. are made every day. First this cream 

 is run into vats where it ripens. When ready it goes 

 to the steam churns that are worked each morning. 

 These wooden churns, although six years old, looked 

 as good as when they were made, a result that is 

 brought about by daily washings with hot water im- 

 pregnated with soda and lime which remove every 

 trace of acidity from the wood. After leaving the 

 churns the butter is worked and rolled in large rotary 

 machines. It is never touched by the hand. This 

 butter is sold in tasteful porcelain jars containing 1 lb. 

 Danish, of which the price at the time of my visit was 

 1 krone 20 ore (about is. 4d.). 



The milk-cans and the bottles are also washed 

 with the utmost care. After rinsing, they are set 

 upon a wheel which dips them into a vat of lime- 

 water so strong that it cannot be stirred with the 

 hand. As the wheel revolves, the cans or bottles 



