DENMARK. 



647 



Statistic*. 



Asiicul- 



Economi- 



conveniences, if not with the luxuries of life ; though 

 the state of bondage in which the peasants are held, 

 must be very unfavourable to agricultural enterprise 

 and improvement. Since the middle of the last cen- 

 tury, however, when considerable ameliorations took 

 place in the condition of the labouring classes, and par- 

 ticularly within these last thirty years, agriculture, in 

 all its branches, has been very sensibly improving, and 

 has attracted much of the attention both of the public 

 and of the government. In the year 1757, an econo- 

 «f Core"- m ' Cal societ y was Projected at Copenhagen, and it com- 

 jtagen. mencecl its labours in 176s. It was founded by indi- 

 viduals, but soon obtained the support of government. 

 A donation of 3000 rixdollars was received on the part 

 of the king, who has since annually contributed 1400. 

 The members who, independently of correspondents, 

 and of such foreigners as are fellows, have amounted, 

 of late, to about 200, contribute each at least ten rix- 

 dollars yearly. The chief object of this society, is to 

 promote improvements in agriculture, in the fisheries, 

 and in the mines. A select committee holds once a 

 year a public meeting, at which the prince royal pre- 

 sides, for the purpose of awarding prizes to useful me- 

 moirs, to industry, and to inventions. These prizes 

 P consist of honorary or of pecuniary rewards. From 



1772 to 1792, the society distributed, in this way, 

 68,000 rixdollars to 4200 individuals. Count Otton- 

 Thott and General Clasen have also founded prizes, to 

 be decerned by the Copenhagen Society to the best 

 works on general economy, and to the inventors of use- 

 ful machines, either for agriculture or the manufactures ; 

 and General Clasen has bequeathed an estate, the rent 

 ©f which is to be employed in the maintenance of an 

 agricultural school. About this time, too, measures 

 were adopted for the suppression of commons, which 

 were very numerous in this country, and of very little 

 advantage. The boundaries between the grounds be- 

 longing to the different villages and farms had been 

 totally neglected, and the limits altogether unascer- 

 tained, which occasioned not only innumerable dis- 

 putes, but was also evidently a great drawback on im- 

 provements. The straighting and settling the bounda- 

 ries of the different proprietors, have, therefore, been 

 publicly recommended, and surveyors for making the 

 necessary measurements distributed over the country, 

 to the number of not less than forty. Government has 

 also marked out to the proprietors of tythes a plan of 

 reform on that subject, but has left the execution of it 

 to their own patriotism and good sense. The greater 

 part of the tythes of the clergy have already been com- 

 muted according to this plan, and it is probable that 

 the others will be so also in the course of time. Ser- 

 vitudes also are diminishing, or becoming, at least, less 

 burdensome, in consequence of agreements entered in- 

 to between the proprietor and his vassals. The great 

 proprietors, in order to enable the peasants the better 

 to improve the soil, grant them hereditary leases. 

 They have increased also the number of farms, by sub- 

 dividing their estates; a practice, however, which, when 

 pushed too far, is unfavourable to agriculture. The 

 lands belonging, to the crown, to cities, and to pious 

 foundations, are very considerable. Of these 3 great 

 part have been sold, and others are fanned according 

 to the most approved principles. After this great aliena- 

 tion of the property of the crown, the king still possess- 

 ed in the bailiwicks of Cronborg and Fredericborg 

 some estates on the ancient footing. These estates have 

 been measured and parcelled out into farms cf nearly 

 an equal extent. The servitudes ajod the tythes are 



suppressed or converted into obligations less burden- Statistics, 

 some. An annual sum of 30,000 rix dollars is ex- * -■—,»- — . 

 pended on these farms in improvements of various 

 kinds. The ' property of them is granted to the pea- A g ricul - 

 sants on the sole condition of discharging the stipulated UI e ' 

 commutations. More than five hundred farmers have 

 already been settled in this manner, and in the space of 

 a few years their farms have tripled their value. Se- 

 veral private proprietors, emulating with a laudable 

 zeal the example of their sovereigns, have given free- 

 dom to their peasants, released them from the bur- 

 dens under which they laboured, and granted them 

 every indulgence and encouragement. These pub- 

 lic-spirited individuals have by these means, at the 

 same time, promoted their own interest, and advanced 

 the value of their estates much beyond those of their 

 less patriotic neighbours. In the low district of the 

 duchies of Holstein and Sleswick, the cultivator has al- 

 ways been free, and often the proprietor ; and even in 

 the higher lands, where bondage has long prevailed, 

 many favourable circumstances have softened the yokei 

 There are here cultivators who, by their mode of farm- 

 ing, and particularly by their manner of cropping, give 

 to their lands a productive power, from which they draw 

 the greatest advantages. In 1786", there was formed, 

 under the eye of government, an office denominated a ^u e3t ~ 

 chest of credit, the object of which was to furnish ad* credit for 

 vances of money for the purpose of facilitating the agriculcu- 

 agricultural improvements of the country. The original ra! '"'" 

 capital was about 750,000 rix dollars, consisting of P rove " 

 property belonging to the crown, on the credit of ments " 

 which, the directors of the chest negociated money with 

 the bank and private individuals. At first, this chest 

 furnished advances at two per cent, in some cases, and 

 in others at four. But since 1793, it has lent at four 

 per cent, in all cases. Before granting these advances, 

 information must be obtained concerning the nature of 

 the undertaking, and the probability of reimbursement 

 The sum granted is furnished at intervals of six, twelve, 

 or eighteen months, and sometimes of two years ; and 

 before any of the remaining portions can be obtained, 

 satisfactory proof must be given that the former has 

 been laid out according to its intended destination. 

 The reimbursement is effected by a small annual pay- 

 ment in proportion to the loan, so as that the whole 

 debt shall be liquidated in twenty-one, twenty-six, or 

 twenty-eight years. This establishment, in the course 

 of twelve years, has lent to the amount of three mil- 

 lions, and government has permitted them to raise their 

 capital to five millions. One part of the sums advan- 

 ced has been granted for the improvement of the soil 

 and husbandry of the Isles of Jutland and of the du- 

 chies of Sleswick and Holstein. Another part has been 

 set apart, as was already mentioned, for enabling the 

 inhabitants of the low district of the duchies to pre- 

 serve and complete the dikes, an object essentially ne- 

 cessary for the preservation of the land. And the pea- 

 sants of Denmark have obtained sums, more or less 

 considerable, for the acquirement of property, and for 

 buying up their burdensome servitudes. Norway has 

 always obtained a proportion of these advances for si- 

 milar purposes. The direction of this institution is en- 

 trusted to men whose characters raise them above the 

 suspicion of all personal considerations, and who are par- 

 ticularly enjoined to administer its funds with pru- 

 dence and impartiality. These encouragements afford- 

 ed by government, joined with the effort? oC enlighten- 

 ed patriots, have diffused a taste for agriculture thvc.'.gh- • 

 out all the Danisli states. 



