DENMARK. 499 



being crowned with complete success tbat a still further development 

 is promoted by the great feeling of sympathy in their fnvor. 



That these dairies obtain a large amount of butter from their milk, 

 and that they are in a position to bring this butter direct to the 

 markets and there obtain equally as high prices as for the best butter 

 from the large estates, seems to be the general opinion amongst the 

 small landed proprietors, and that they can obtain better returns for 

 their milk through the medium of these dairies than by any other course 

 of procedure. 



The home production of butter amongst the small proprietors is looked 

 upon by them as a hopeless contest against such conditions, partly from 

 the difficulty in producing a first-class quality of butter with their lim- 

 ited supply of milk, and partly from their inability to dispose of their 

 butter at full prices as corresponding with its quality. 



Many are of the opinion that much illusion exists with regard to 

 these dairies. These Union Dairies, they urge, have to carry on their 

 operations under very great difficulties, and this is especially the case 

 in the thinly-populated districts of Jutland, where the milk has to be 

 collected from the widely-spread farms over a large area. 



These difficulties with which the Union Dairies have to contend, they 

 maintain, are too much underrated by the public, just as much as 

 the difficulties attending home production are overestimated, and it thus 

 remains an open question how far this feverish hurry which has been 

 displayed in the erection of so many new Union Dairies, year after 

 year, before actual necessity has allowed sufficient time for ample tests 

 of experience, is really matter of congratulation for the interests of 

 Denmark's important branch of dairy drift. 



Few proprietors of large dairies will be ready to admit that it is so 

 easy a matter to produce butter of the finest quality, and at the same 

 time always to obtain the highest prices of the first-class article. On 

 the contrary, they are too often accustomed to receive complaints from 

 their customers over the slightest falling off in the fineness of their but- 

 ter, and that it is only with the aid of a good dairy staff and by con- 

 stantly being on the alert that these complaints can be prevented and 

 all errors redressed. The attention of these large dairy proprietors 

 is continually directed towards the proper feeding of the cows and care- 

 fully watching that the fodder mixtures are good and appropriate; that 

 the milk from such cows as are not in a normal condition is carefully 

 set aside for separate treatment lest it should be injurious to the other 

 milk, or even a doubt bo entertained thereof. After dwelling on this 

 phase of the subject the question must naturally arise, in what way do 

 the Union Dairies, which receive the milk from fifty or sixty different 

 filaces without having any knowledge or control over the cows 7 fodder- 

 ing or their general condition, contrive to carry on their operations suc- 

 cessfully ? Furthermore, whilst the large dairy owners have always con- 

 sidered as a main point for the production of fine butter that the milk 

 .should be conveyed as quickly as possible after milking to the dairy 

 for cooling, and whilst it has always been regarded of absolute neces- 

 sity that the milk should be removed from the stables at least twice 

 during the milking, so th.it it may at once be strained and cooled be- 

 fore losing any of its freshness, or injured by any acid formation or from 

 the action of warm and impure air how, then, it is asked, do the 

 Union Dairies manage to counteract these evils with the evening's milk, 

 which has been allowed to lay over night at the supplying farm, from 

 which it is brought together with the next morning's milk? They thus 

 strongly question if butter of first quality can be produced under these 

 circumstances. 



