28 FOKAGE CHOPS IN DENMABK 



Danish farmers. " I am doing no more than making systematic 

 records of the experiences of practical farmers," was a frequent 

 expression of Fjord's, when speaking of this important, yes, 

 epoch-making, work, which he initiated and which has been 

 carried on after his death in the same spirit. And as Danish 

 farmers, both on large and on small farms, were able to and 

 eager to profit by any reliable teaching of how to improve their 

 farming methods and their feeding of live stock, it is little 

 wonder that Fjord's feeding trials with roots soon resulted in 

 an increased cultivation of roots. The acreage under roots 

 for feeding, viz. mangels, swedes, and turnips, was : 



1888 95,000 acres 



1896 180,000 



1901 330,000 



1907 565,000 



1912 627,000 



1919 678,000 



The accepted fact that 1 Ib. of solids in roots was equal in 

 feeding value to 1 Ib. of corn when fed to cattle enabled a com- 

 parison to be made between the production of food-stuffs when 

 growing corn and when growing roots. With a crop of 38 

 bushels of barley to the acre one acre will produce 1900 Ibs. of 

 corn. With a crop of 19 tons of swedes to the acre one acre 

 will produce 42-560 Ibs. of swedes with, say, 12 per cent, of 

 solids, or 5107 Ibs. of solids. These were the average yields in 

 Denmark during the years 1909-1913. 1 By growing barley 

 the farmer will therefore produce 1900 Ibs. of food-stuff per 

 acre, while by growing swedes he will produce 5100 Ibs. of 

 equally good food-stuff, or more than 2J times as much. The 

 official Danish Statistics 2 estimate the average production of 

 food-stuff in Denmark during the years 1908-14 to have been ; 



When growing corn 20 -2 cwts. per acre 



When growing roots 387 



This consideration was a very great inducement to farmers 

 to extend the acreage under roots. There is not the slightest 

 doubt that the large root-crops enabled Denmark to pull 



1 " Co-operation in Danish Agriculture," p. 165. 



* Statistiske Meddelelser, " H0sten i Danraark, 1908-14," 4 R. 58 Bd. 

 P. 1 K0benhavn, 1919, p. 19. 



