2 FORAGE CROPS IN DENMARK 



under roots, which in 1861 was 6000 acres, increased slowly, and 

 was in 1871 16,600, and in 1881 45,700 acres, 1 this latter area 

 being only two-thirds of one per cent, of the arable land, while 

 at the same time in Great Britain 13 per cent, of the arable land 

 were under such root- crops. Several Danish landlords and 

 prominent farmers visited England and Scotland and studied 

 the growing of roots as well as other agricultural methods in 

 vogue. The Royal Agricultural Society of Denmark in 1876 

 sent M. P. Andersen, a graduate in horticulture from the Royal 

 Agricultural College, Copenhagen, to Scotland and England to 

 study agriculture and particularly seed culture, and three 

 years later the same Society sent Erhard Frederiksen, a farmer, 

 to study root cultivation, particularly in the eastern counties 

 of England. 2 Many articles appeared in Danish agricultural 

 papers recommending farmers to cultivate roots, and the subject 

 was discussed at agricultural shows and other meetings, opinions 

 being divided. With the change of system from corn-growing 

 to animal production, caused by the rapidly increasing import 

 of cheap corn from overseas, the growing of roots for cattle- 

 feeding became more general, and in 1888 the acreage under 

 mangels, turnips and swedes had reached 95,000 acres, 3 and 

 was extended year by year. 



But still Danish farmers did not value roots very highly 

 as food for cattle. One prominent farmer even went so far as 

 to say that so long as he had plenty of water in his well he 

 failed to see the use of carting it from the fields in the shape 

 of mangels. When another farmer complained that his roots 

 were frozen and began to rot, a friend consoled him by saying 

 that he might cart them to the dung- hill, which was in any case 

 the best use to which roots could be put, frozen or not frozen. 

 The use of roots as fodder for milch cows was often under 

 discussion among Danish farmers. While some maintained 

 that by giving roots as an addition to the usual ration they 

 obtained a larger yield of milk and of butter, others were 

 strongly of opinion that the larger yield of milk, if such was 



1 FalbeHansen og Scharling, " Danmarks Statistik," Vol. 2, 1887, p. 199. 



2 " Aarsberetning om det kongelige Landhusholdningsselskabs Virksomhed,' ' 

 K0benhavn, 1877, p. 55, and 1880, p. 103. 



8 Harald Faber, "Co-operation in Danish Agriculture," Longmans, 

 Green & Co., 1918, p. 163. 



