172 



Impressions of a \isu to Denmark. 



[may, 



IMPRESSIONS OF A VISIT TO 

 DENMARK IN 1919:* 



SOME COMPARISONS WITH RURAL CONDITIONS IN WALES.* 

 S. Emily Matthews, 



Late Organising Secretary of the Women's Branch of the Ministry, 

 Carnarvon and Anglesey Division. 



" To gather raw material for rural reconstruction '' was the 

 phrase in which Herr Lange, Principal of the Fyn Stiffs Hus- 

 mandsslcole, described the object of our visit to Denmark. 

 Perhaps it would be even truer to say that we went there to 

 study Danish plans and methods of construction, and to try 

 to understand how, from the ruins of the disastrous war with 

 Germany, in 1864, the Danes have been able to build up a 

 prosperous State. Of " raw material " we have as good in this 

 country, but it is of interest to see how far the example of 

 Denmark can be of help to us in this time of rural reconstruction. 



The members of our delegation returned from Denmark with 

 varied impressions of the agricultural methods and institutions 

 of the country, but upon one thing we all agree — that there 

 we found a healthy, thriving, and self-respecting rural popula- 

 tion, making a livehhood out of the cultivation of the soil. 

 The first thing which must strike anyone visiting Denmark 

 is the number of cled.n, tidy homesteads per square mile which 

 may be seen in every direction. My first thought, when view- 

 ing the country from the train which took us from Copenhagen 

 to Ringsted, was — " here at any rate they grow men and 

 women on the land " — surely the richest and most vital crop 

 that any country can produce. 



We subsequently visited many of these homesteads in 

 various centres, and were treated most kindly b}^ the people, 

 who allowed us to see everything on their holdings — their 

 cows, pigs, poultry, the crops, the farm buildings, even their 

 kitchens and larders. What to me was more interesting than 

 their methods or implements, however, was the fact that they 

 and their families were able to live in comfort, if not in luxury, 

 on the produce of 10 to 12 acres of land, and showed themselves 

 quite happy and contented with their lot. 



On one of the smallest holdings we visited, in the Island of 

 Fyn (only 4 acres cultivated, mostly as a market garden, with 

 a couple of cows, some poultry and pigs) the wife of the 



* This article has been prepared by Miss Matthews as a result of observations 

 made on a \dsit to Denmark vdfh a delegation of women in June, J gig, with 

 the object of stud^dng Danish Conditions in relation to women's work on the 

 and at first hand. 



