648 



DENMARK. 



Statistics 



Vegetable 

 produc- 

 tions. 



The temperature of Denmark admits of the culture of 

 all kinds of grain. It is the nature of the soil on which 

 the choice depends. The island of Zealand yields the 

 greatest quantity of barley and oats; that of Funen 

 yields chiefly buck wheat. The isles of Laaland and 

 Falster are best adapted for wheat. Jutland is well 

 fitted for the culture of rye. Pease, beans, and lentils, 

 are found in almost every part of the country. Forage 

 is in general abundant, and the meadows have been 

 much improved by the suppression of the commons. 

 The duchies produce the principal kinds of grain in 

 sufficient abundance for the support of the inhabitants, 

 and also for exportation. The high grounds are most 

 proper for the cultivation of rye, buck wheat, and oats. 

 The sandy ridge, which pervades the whole length of 

 both provinces, is fit only for oats or buck- wheat. The 

 district of the Marsches present a picture of the most 

 luxuriant cultivation. Wheat, barley, oats, pease, beans, 

 thrive there most astonishingly. A considerable ex- 

 tent of soil is here allotted to the cultivation of rape. 

 This plant, whose seed yields an oil much esteemed in 

 Holland and in Germany, brings great profits to the 

 cultivator. A part of the seed is prepared in the coun- 

 try, another part is exported without preparation. The 

 refuse of the seed is good food for cattle ; the stalks 

 make good manure, and sometimes they are used for 

 fuel. Sleswick alone, sends annually nearly 8000 tons 

 of rape-seed to Holland. The potatoe, that most use- 

 ful root, was at first despised in Denmark as in most 

 other countries, but it is now more esteemed, and 

 whole fields are appropriated to the cultivation of it. 

 Common cabbage, and the different kinds of turnips and 

 carrots, are very generally cultivated, and form a consi- 

 derable port : on of the ordinary food of the peasant. 

 The isle of Amak, which has been called the garden of 

 Copenhagen, furnishes that capital with an immense 

 quantity of pulse and pot-herbs. This establishment 

 owes its origin to the desire of Isabella the wife of 

 Christian, of finding in Denmark the pulse and vege- 

 tables she had been accustomed to in the Low Coun- 

 tries. With this view, cultivators were brought from 

 that country, and part of the Isle of Amak assigned to 

 them, with numerous privileges, which their descendants 

 still enjoy. Gardening has made considerable progress 

 around the capital, and also in the provinces. Fruit 

 trees are generally cultivated. Cherries, plumbs, pears, 

 and apples, are often an abundant crop. In the low 

 lands of Holstein, fruit trees thrive exceedingly. In 

 Sleswick, the districts of Lundwit, and of the Isle of 

 Alsen, are famous for the culture of apple-trees. Ves- 

 sels often sail from the ports in the neighbourhood of 

 their orchards laden entirely with apples, which they 

 sell to great advantage in Norway and Russia. A single 

 peasant will gain in this way the sum of 200 rix-dollars 

 in one year. For encouraging the culture of fruit- 

 trees, many proprietors, and in some instances govern- 

 ment, have estabhshed extensive nurseries, from which 

 they supply with trees the peasants and the other inha- 

 bitants of the country. Hops are cultivated to a consi- 

 derable extent in Funen. The produce, however, is 

 not sufficient for the consumpt of the country, which 

 imports hops yearly to the value of 50,000 rix-dollars. 

 There are some grounds appropriated to the cultivation 

 of tobacco in the islands of Zealand and Falster ; but 

 this plant is chiefly cultivated in the environs of 

 Fredericia in Jutland, by the French refugees invited 

 thither by Frederic the Fourth. "Under the reign 

 of Christian the Fourth, the cultivation of flax and of 

 hemp was recommended by royal authority This re- 



commendation has since been frequently renewed. But Statistics. 

 it is only very lately that the culture of these plants, ™""Y~*"' 

 which is of great importance in a maritime country, 

 has been attended to by the generality of farmers. 

 Nature produces, in many parts of Denmark, an useful 

 plant, and which a small expence of labour would ren- 

 der more common, the herb manna, probably so called, 

 because it is spontaneous, and because its seed is ga- 

 thered in the morning before sun-rise. This plant, 

 which delights in moist and marshy grounds, might be 

 food for horses, while its seed, when ground, gives a 

 meal of a good quality. Besides this, there are many 

 other natural plants, of which the inhabitants might avail 

 themselves more than they have hitherto done. In 

 Sleswick and Holstein, hops, tobacco, flax, and hemp, 

 have as yet been but little cultivated. For these se- 

 veral years past, in the district of Dithmarsh, the ga- 

 thering of medicinal herbs, which grow there naturally, 

 has furnished a lucrative source of traffic. 



The rearing of cattle is in Denmark an important Animsis, 

 object of rural economy, and has received a great de- 

 gree of attention from government, who have founded 

 at Copenhagen a public seminary and institution for the 

 purpose of encouraging and promoting it. The horses 

 of Denmark have been long known over Europe. Those 

 of Jutland, and in particular of the district of Thye- 

 land in the north of that province, are reckoned the 

 strongest, but they are not so well shaped as those of 

 Zealand and Funen. It is, however, in the duchies, and 

 particularly Holstein, that we find that fine breed of 

 beautiful steeds every where in such request. They 

 are distinguished by their stately chest, their shape, 

 their gait, their fire, and require better feeding than 

 those of the other provinces of Denmark. From the 

 bosom of their peaceful vales, these noble animals are 

 conducted at great expence into foreign regions, to 

 listen to the warlike trumpet, and carry the combatant 

 through the ranks of the enemy ; or to adorn the pro- 

 cessions of the great, and drag in gilded chariots the 

 illustrious favourites of fortune. The chief trade in 

 these horses is carried on at Altona and Husum, from 

 whence they are exported to Germany, Russia, Prussia, 

 and France. Stallions from the king's stables, are dis- 

 tributed over the country for the accommodation of 

 breeders ; and those who rear the best horses are re- 

 warded with prizes from the inspectors of studs ap- 

 pointed by government. In the year 1797, there was 

 exported from Jutland and the isles 6000 horses, from 

 Sleswick, 3647, and from Holstein 6386, which would 

 bring into the country about 250,000 pounds sterling. 

 The horned cattle of Denmark are also of a very ex- 

 cellent breed, and furnish an important article of ex- 

 portation. The cows of the eastern coasts of the 

 duchies, are of peculiar excellence, and particularly the 

 large reddish coloured cows of the district of Eystersted, 

 which, it is said, will give twenty-four cans of milk 

 per day. For a long time the privilege of trading in 

 cattle and of fattening them, was exclusively enjoyed 

 by the great proprietors, by the farmers of the royal 

 demesnes, and by the cities, to whom, according to 

 fixed regulations, the peasants were obliged to bring 

 the cattle reared on their pastures. Those only of a 

 certain age and quality were allowed to be exported. 

 Under all these restrictions and disadvantages, this 

 branch of commerce was carried to a great extent. 

 In 1788, government, however, suppressed the exclu- 

 sive privilege of feeding and dealing in cattle, and 

 all the burdensome enactments to which it had given 

 rise. The export duties were lowered, and the expor- 

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