102 LAND FOR FOOD PRODUCTION 



Nor has the improvement been confined to numbers 

 and acreage ; from the following table it will be seen 

 how the yield of cereals has been raised by selection of 

 better varieties, more fertilisers and improved cultiva- 

 tion : 



The average Danish yield has increased by 24 per 

 cent, in twenty years and now overtops the English, 

 which only increased in seventeen years by 4 per cent., 

 a barely significant figure. 



The average annual yield of butter per cow was 

 estimated in 1864 as about 80 lb. ; by 1887 it had risen 

 to 116 lb., by 1908 to 220 lb., and by 1914 to 229 lb. 

 In the competition between herds as to butter produc- 

 tion, the tests and observations for which extend over 

 two years, the average production of butter per cow 

 in the four prize winning herds in 1897-9 was a trifle 

 over 300 lb. per annum ; in 1911-13 in the four prize 

 winning herds it had reached the astonishing average 

 of 445 lb. 



Naturally this progress in the industry has been 



