INTRODUCTION 



CO-OPERATION IN DANISH AGRICULTURE IN OLDEN TIMES 



The words of Ecclesiastes : "Is there anything whereof it 

 may be said, ' See, this is new ! it hath been akeady of old 

 time, which was before us,' " may be spoken with truth of the 

 appHcation of co-operative principles to agriculture. Mutual 

 aid among tillers of the soil for direct productive purposes, 

 common duties and common rights concerning various kinds 

 of work, and participation in various benefits, can all be traced 

 back to very ancient times. Co-operation, as practised of old, 

 sprang from the need and the circumstances of the time, and 

 naturally, therefore, was of a character quite * different from 

 the co-operation as apphed to present-day agriculture. In 

 those early times there was an absence of freedom which brought 

 about a uniformity in the life and labour of the villages, and 

 affected spheres which nowadays we would not like to see 

 withdrawn from private initiative. 



What, then, were the conditions under which agricultural 

 co-operation in olden times had its origin ? 



Among most nations — such as Anglo-Saxon, Teutons, Scandi- 

 navians, Slavs, the inhabitants of Arabia, India and China, 

 Peru and Mexico — the land was originally common property. 

 The fields, grass-land, wood-land and waters were used in 

 common by the villagers. Norsemen, Anglo-Saxons and Teu- 

 tons called the common land mark, almend, almenning mark, 

 or folk-land, and no one had a hereditary or prescriptive right 

 to any part of it ; all inhabitants shared it aHke. Other 

 real property, however, might be in private possession, such 

 as the farmstead and an adjoining piece oLland, called a toft. 

 The peasant could cultivate or use this toft as he Hked. It 

 was frequently a fairly considerable piece of land which was 



3 b"-2 



