32 CO-OPEKATION IN DANISH AGEICULTUKE 



which caused an exhaustion of the capital present in the soil 

 in the shape of plant nutriment. The cattle were ill-nourished ; 

 during winter they were fed on hay and straw only. By 

 degrees the ill effects of this system became apparent. A 

 considerable difference in the corn crops was observed between 

 the ordinary farms and the better managed estates where the 

 impoverishment of the soil was compensated by the greater 

 quantities of more valuable farmyard manure resulting from 

 keeping more stock and feeding them more liberally. . Several 

 intelligent men on large farms set the example ; as the stimulat- 

 ing effect of marling gradually decreased and the necessity of 

 replacing by manure what was taken out of the soil became 

 more and more pressing, the advantages of a larger stock of 

 cattle and of tending and feeding them better during the winter ^. 

 became evident to more and more farmers. This was the 

 beginning of the new, the modern, system in Danish agriculture. 

 The change began in the sixties, was continued in the seventies, 

 and completed in the eighties. The basis of agriculture was v/ 

 transferred from corn growing to dairy farming. Instead 

 of being robbed the soil was now enriched. 



This change took place at a highly opportune moment, 

 when the great revolution of the seventies came to alter the 

 commercial conditions of agriculture in West Europe. Corn 

 from the East and from overseas flooded European markets. 

 Large tracts of fertile land were brought under the plough in 

 North and South America, in India and Austraha. Soon 

 afterwards also animal produce, live animals and meat, were 

 sent to Europe from America, Austraha, and other countries 

 in rapidly increasing quantities. This revolutionary change 

 was due in a large measure to the development of the means of 

 transport. Large railway lines opened up new land, improved 

 steamships brought continents nearer by many days, freights 

 were reduced to a small fraction of what they used to be. The 

 result was a competition with the whole world hitherto quite 

 unknown in Europe, and this was particularly felt by European 

 agriculture. All the countries in Europe, with the exception 

 of four, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, .and 

 Denmark, tried to stem the fall of prices by imposing high 

 import duties on agricultural produce. 



