ON AGRICULTURE TO DENMARK 111 



duced. The term standard denotes, say, 10 lbs. of roots, 2| lbs. 

 of hay, and 1 lb. of oilcake, bran and oats. 



Bregentved 



The home farm of Bregentved estate, owned by Count Moltke, 

 is a farm extending to 900 acres, on which there is a stock 

 of 300 cows, all of the red Danish breed. The steading here 

 was of enormous size and splendidly appointed. Live stock in 

 Denmark are for the most part tethered to stakes when out in 

 the fields at grass, one reason being that there are, with few ex- 

 ceptions, no fences in the country ; and, on the other hand, it is 

 claimed on behalf of the tethering system that more stock can be 

 kept on the land. On this score many of the party were sceptical, 

 believing that, where pasture is uniformly cropped down in the 

 early stages of its growth, considerably more herbage will be pro- 

 duced in the course of the season than where, as was seen in 

 Denmark, the grasses had attained the stage of maturity before 

 the stock had been over it. Be that as it may, we found at 

 Bregentved another system, viz., the soiHng system in vogue, which 

 in many respects had more to commend it to the practical Scotch- 

 men. Here the cows were wholly fed inside, being allowed out 

 only for exercise. The food was cut in the fields and carted in, 

 and fed to the cows in their stalls. The land was very liber- 

 ally manured, both with farmyard manure, of which enormous 

 quantities were made, and liquid manure, which was carefully 

 preserved in tanks, as well as with liberal dressings of artificial 

 manures. Under such an intensive system of farming it is quite 

 conceivable that a much larger number of head of cattle can be 

 kept on a given area of land. Here, too, great care was taken in 

 the feeding and breeding of the dairy stock, and the milk yield 

 was highly satisfactory. Some of the cows in the herd were giving 

 np to 60 lbs. of milk per day shortly after calving, and from 30 to 

 40 lbs. per day seemed to be a common average. The cows here 

 were milked three times daily, and the wage paid to the milkers 

 was equal to 8d. per day. The women were paid 2 kroner, equal 

 to 2s. 3d. per day, with house and perquisites. The milk of this 

 dairy was sent once a day to the large creamery of Trifolium. 

 Immediately on being milked, the milk was passed over a re- 

 frigerator, and then the vessels in which it was to be conveyed to 

 the creamery were placed in large tanks containing ice water, and 

 in this way it was kept at a very low temperature. 



Skipygaard, near Aarhuus 



What may be termed a typical peasant farm of 130 acres is 

 that owned by Mr Rasmussen, near Aarhuus. For most of the 

 way out from Aarhuus the soil seemed to be of a very light 

 sandy description. Mr Rasmussen's farm of Skipygaard was 

 purchased at a cost of £3300, including the price of the cattle 

 then on the land, and with the improvements since effected, 



