BREEDING SOCIETIES 89 



" (6) Peasants in the neighbourhood should have the op- 

 portunity of getting their cows served, free or for a small fee, 

 on condition that they undertake to rear and keep for breeding 

 the resulting cow-calves." 



Such were the far-sighted views of this country parson 

 and poet. 



As already mentioned, it was the impoverishing effect of 

 continuous corn-growing which led progressive landowners to 

 understand the necessity of returning the nutriment taken 

 from the soil by keeping a larger stock of cattle and feeding 

 them better. This again led the leading farmers to improve 

 the quaUty of their cattle. But the progress was confined to 

 the large estates. Then the State stepped in to further the 

 movement. By the first Law for Improving the Breeding of 

 Domestic Animals, of 31st March, 1852, the State offered a 

 modest sum of £844 annually as prizes for the best breeding 

 animals, horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs, to be paid through 

 the Minister of the Interior to those districts where the agri- 

 cultural societies took ah active part in the improvement of 

 the stock ; the grant from the State to a district was not to 

 exceed the amount contributed by the district from its own 

 means, and no more than £44 should be given to any one 

 district ; the prizes were to be awarded at the annual cattle 

 shows by judges elected by the agricultural societies. This 

 proved to be a very effective help to self-help. Cattle shows 

 had been held at intervals before that time, but from 1852 

 they became common all over the country, and had a consider- 

 able influence in demonstrating to farmers which animals were 

 suitable for breeding purposes. Later on it was understood 

 how important it was to know the pedigree of good animals, 

 and herd- books were kept, at first by private farmers and from 

 1881 by pubhc bodies. By degrees farmers learnt to see the 

 importance of keeping more cattle and cattle of better quality. 

 In 1881 a kind of breeding society was formed on the island 

 of Mors in the north of Jutland, famous from of old for its 

 fine horses and its good cattle. The fear that the cattle might 

 be spoiled by injudicious crossing with Shorthorns induced a 

 landowner to form a society for the improvement of the native 

 cattle. The members were to agree to use for breeding only 



