36 CO-OPEKATION IN DANISH AGRICULTURE 



conditions in the dairy, and opened out the possibihty of an 

 industry on a large scale, and facihtated the application of 

 co-operative methods. 



Some form of co-operation in cheese- making has been prac- 

 tised in Switzerland from -very ancient times. In this instance 

 the cattle from a number of farms are brought together in the 

 summer to the pastures in the Alps where cheese is made from 

 the collected milk, and the proceeds distributed between the 

 farmers in proportion to the yield of his cows as measured 

 twice during the season. In other districts in Switzerland 

 farmers have built factories for making butter or cheese, to 

 which they daily bring their milk together, morning and evening ; 

 the milk is measured and credited to the farmers according to 

 quantity, and of the mixed milk butter or cheese is made. A 

 Danish writer, in 1820,^ in describing these factories, pointed 

 out the advantages such co-operation brought to the small 

 farmers, and he further mentioned that where these factories 

 were found, the number of cows increased, the breed of cows 

 was improved, the milk was better treated and the proceeds 

 from dairy farming increased ; even the fields were better 

 cultivated. The system spread into the neighbouring districts 

 in France. Another Danish writer, N. Tilhsch, described in 

 1871 the American creameries,^ the first of which was said 

 to have been erected in 1851. Originally a creamery was 

 owned by one man, who bought the milk from the farmers ; 

 but gradually arrangements were made so that the farmers 

 themselves owned the creamery, which was run for their joint 

 account, and this system Tillisch recommended Danish farmers 

 to adopt. 



A plan for improving the butter made from the milk from 

 peasant farms by collecting the milk to be worked at one place 

 was submitted to the Royal Agricultural Society of Denmark 

 as early as 1852, and it pointed out that this could be done on 

 co-operative lines, the peasants being the owners of the factory 

 and sharing the proceeds. The first dairy for the manufacture 

 of butter from milk bought from the farmers was made in 1863 

 in Marslev, and others followed ; but these did not succeed. 



* Ravert, in " Nyo Landooconoraiske Tidendcr," ]82(f. 

 2 "Tidsskrift-forLandokonoinio, 1871." 



