ECONOMIC 149 



statistics, her success has been no more than moderate. 

 Dairy cattle are perhaps the most important example. 



Breeds believed to give a large milk yield are spoken 

 of as milk breeds, while breeds giving milk containing 

 a large percentage of butter-fat are spoken of as butter 

 breeds. In nearly every British breed, whether its 

 reputation be for milk or butter or even beef, for no 

 breed has the monopoly of any of these things, there 

 are cows of full age capable of giving from 1000 to 1100 

 gallons of milk in a normal lactation ; yet, even in the 

 milk breeds, many cows give no more than 500 gallons, 

 and it is doubtful whether, taking all ages together, the 

 average for the whole is over this figure. In some 

 breeds, if not in most, there are some cows giving milk 

 containing over 5 per cent, of fat, yet the average for 

 the country is only about 3'7, and even in the butter 

 breeds the milk of many cows does not reach this 

 average quality. 



The work done in Denmark shows how this state of 

 affairs might be altered and the wealth of the country 

 so far as it proceeds from dairy cattle very nearly 

 doubled. From 500 gallons at 3*7 per cent, to 900 

 gallons at 5 per cent, is a rise of 90 per cent, in milk 

 and 150 per cent, in butter. The Danes' success starts 

 with the careful and systematic recording of their cows' 

 yields in both quality and quantity through every 

 lactation. Thus their breeding stock are selected upon 

 the actual performances of themselves or their parents 

 instead of upon legends relating to their remote ancestors. 

 Mr. Grut Hansen's success was made all the more easy 

 by the fact that, in Denmark, many promising sires 

 remain alive till their reproductive capacity can be 

 determined. A sire's capacity can be determined as 



