ECONOMIC BEFOKMS IN DENMAEK 11 



be levied on the holding or stock ; so that for 

 about a century they are protected against some of 

 the worst calamities to which small holdings are 

 subject. So far as the small holders thus created are 

 concerned, it has been estimated by a competent 

 observer that about half of these peasant farmers 

 succeed, about one-third just manage to live, and the 

 remaining one-sixth fail. So far as national wealth 

 is concerned it may be noted that the number of 

 stock kept on these farms, per acre, and the wealth 

 produced, per acre, are far greater than on the larger 

 farms. 



Denmark is now essentially a land of small farms. 

 The bulk of the land is divided into farms of from 

 33 to 270 acres, but the number of holdings between 

 11 and 33 acres is large, and the number of holdings 

 less than 11 acres very large. The great majority of 

 the farmers in Denmark now own their own farms, 

 and only 10 per cent, of the farmers are tenants. 

 The rearrangement of holdings in sizes considered to 

 be suitable is only part of a general policy, and is not 

 the end of direct government action for the ameliora- 

 tion of agriculture. The country roads have been 

 improved, and so have the rural postal arrangements 

 and telephone system ; while Societies, which have 

 as their objects the reclamation of heath lands, the 

 planting of wind-breaks on the seashore, drainage and 

 irrigation, have been encouraged and subsidised. 



The machinemj for rural development consists of 

 admirable arrangements for rural and agricultural 



