54 



Impressions of a Danish Small Holding, [april, 



had contributed 13,000 kroners (about £730) at the time of 



purchase. It may be stated, however, that it is only necessary 

 for a prospective holder in Denmark to provide one-tenth of 

 the capital required for the purchase of land, buildings and 

 equipment ; the remainder will be supplied by the Danish 

 Government at 3J per cent, interest per annum. 



The soil of this holding was fairly light, being a medium 

 quality loam, which, the owner said, was more or less workable 

 at all times. His system of cropping was an eight-course one, the 

 crops grown being rye, sugar beet, oats, lucerne, barley with 

 seeds, mangolds, peas mixed with oats or barley, and potatoes. 



As to the house and buildings, these were excellent for the 

 purpose, as were all those we saw on the other holdings. They 

 were built in the form of a quadrangle, and in the centre was 

 a pump, from which the water supply was obtained. All the 

 animals had their separate quarters under one roof, the pigs 

 being always under cover. From the animals' quarters a drain 

 was run to conduct all the liquid manure to a tank fitted with 

 a pump. Farmyard manure is the main fertiliser which the 

 holder looks to for his crops, and no portion of it is ever wasted. 



The house, of bungalow type, was very nice and convenient, 

 comfortably and well furnished. It contained a kitchen, 2 

 sitting rooms and 2 bedrooms, and situated over all was a large 

 loft which could be used for storing purposes, and might, if 

 needed, be partitioned off at one end to provide an extra 

 bedroom. 



The family consisted only of the owner, his wife, and a girl 

 of about 10 years old, so that the small holder had to do practic- 

 ally the whole work of the holding himself, his wife and child 

 assisting with the lighter work, and only at busy times. He 

 told us that it was expensive to hire occasional labour, as the 

 payment for a man amounted to 10 kroners a day ; but that 

 the small holders arranged between themselves that one should 

 help the other when in need, and that this arrangement worked 

 very well. 



The live stock consisted, at the time of our visit, of 3 

 cows in milk (a fourth was shortfy to be procured, the normal 

 number kept on the farm being 4), 2 heifers and a bull, 2 horses, 

 2 pigs, and 50 head of poultry. In pre-war days, when supplies 

 of feeding stuffs were so much more abundant, about 10 pigs 

 were kept. 



The main system of Danish agriculture is an intensive 

 husbandry, based upon the keeping of animals and the cultiva- 

 tion of forage crops. There is practically no pasture on any 



