178 THE FUTURE OF OUR AGRICULTURE. 



of larger contracts and greater provision for the disposal of 

 unsold material. When it comes to other articles, having 

 large quantities to deal with, you can grade ever so much 

 better and in more different classes, keeping the " select " 

 — " extra fancy " and " fancy," as the Americans call them — 

 in greatest perfection, and pack and dispatch better likewise. 

 Mr. Hockaday, already mentioned as a great practical expert 

 in the sale of agricultural produce, urges farmers rather 

 to employ an expert packer at five dollars a day than an 

 ordinary man at one dollar. " Highly graded produce," 

 so he adds, " in proper packing, sells itself ; the trouble 

 lies with culls, low-graded, and mixed shipments." It is 

 the standardised article, supplied in quantities which can 

 be relied upon, in a stream which it is known will not fail, 

 which commands the market. And that means operating 

 with large masses. 



And there is more. Often enough it depends upon Co- 

 operation whether there shall be a market at all. The Danes, 

 forbidden to sell their corn — which was at that time their 

 staple product — on their accustomed German market, 

 were compelled to seek for another market for whatever 

 produce they could advantageously raise. They did not 

 cry out for State help, like our own farmers, and maintain 

 that without it Danish Agriculture, the mainstay of the 

 little kingdom, must infallibly " go to the dogs." They 

 looked about them. There was butter — subsequently there 

 were eggs and there was bacon — wanted in England, 

 where these things would, under certain conditions, fetch 

 high prices. But they would fetch them only so long as 

 they could be fully trusted to be up to the mark in respect 

 of quality, and supplied in very large quantities of the same 

 type. The Danes created a market for themselves. Our 

 Irish dairy co-operators have had to operate some time before 

 they could come up to the Danish standard of a uniform 

 article. They have not yet equalled the Danes in establish- 

 ing a fairly uniform delivery throughout the year. They 

 fall short in winter — which makes a considerable difference 

 in the command of the market. Now, to be able to supply 

 butter — and also eggs — in winter as in summer, you must 



