244 RURAL DENMARK 



multiplication of these creatures, which, by the way, 

 is largely brought about by the remorseless de- 

 struction of their natural enemies, the hawk, the owl, 

 the stoat, and the weasel in the interests of game, the 

 bacillus of plague is not an agreeable guest in any 

 country. Further, it may prove one to which it is 

 not easy to show the door. 



As all students of mediaeval epidemics of this and 

 kindred scourges will be aware, and also of modern 

 outbreaks in other lands, often enough it first appears 

 among the lower forms of life, and from these proceeds 

 to its attack on man, as no doubt happened in the case 

 of the recent deaths in Suffolk. Sparrows also, I am 

 told upon scientific authority, can by means of fleas 

 carry the infection as well as rats. Perhaps I may be 

 forgiven this digression, as the matter seems to be 

 one of some present importance, at any rate in East 

 Anglia. 



Another method, this time indirect, by which the 

 State gives great assistance to Danish agriculture, and 

 especially to the export trade, is through the railways 

 which, with the exception of some local lines, are 

 owned by the Government and worked for the benefit 

 of the community as a whole. As a result these rail- 

 ways do not pay a high rate of interest, but the farmers' 

 produce in Denmark is carried at about half the price 

 of that consigned by the farmer in England. This of 

 course makes an enormous difference in the profit that 

 it is possible to earn on the sale of such articles of food 

 as milk, fruit, eggs, poultry, meat, &c, in the great 

 consuming cities. 



Still it must be remembered that most Danish 

 produce is despatched by the co-operative societies in 

 large lots that minimise the cost and labour of handling. 



