jVlAY I90 7 .] 305 Miscellaneous, 



No. of No of Voliio Average 



Factories. Pigs killed. vaiue. Price per Pig. 



1888 ... 1 ... 23,407 ... £57,000 ... £2 9s. Od. 



1902 ... 27 ... 777,232 ... £2,500,000 ... £3 4s. Od. 



It will thus be seen, as regards that one industry alone, what an enormous 

 advance was brought about by co-operation, and an interesting fact to be noticed is, 

 that, whilst the number of pigs were dealt with had so enormously increased, yet 

 the average price per pig had risen from £2 9s. to £3 4s. Od. The increase in average 

 price per pig was progressive each year. 



The first co-operative dairy was opened in West Jutland, in 1882, and in 1902 

 there were no fewer than 1,050 of such dairies in Denmark, with 148,000 members, 

 750,000 cows out of a total 1,067,000 milch cows in the country. In 1902 Denmark 

 exported, mainly to Great Britain, 135,000,000 pounds of butter, and the amount 

 invested in the erection and the equipment of the dairies was over £1,500,000. One 

 fact about this enormous development in Denmark to be specially noted, as regards 

 the conditions in Natal, is that the initiative has always come from the people them- 

 selves. The tendency in Denmark has been not merely to increase the annual output, 

 but to enhance the quality of the product itself — so much is this the case that the 

 farmers of Denmark voluntarily submit to such severe restrictions imposed by their 

 own co-operative societies, as would infallibly kill our dairy industry were similar 

 restrictions applied in Natal. Rules are laid down by the Co-operative Creameries, 

 binding the owners of cows to deliver to the Creamery, for a period of ten years, the 

 milk of the whole number of milch cows, which at all times the farmers may have in 

 their own possession— with the exception, however, of milk required for house 

 purposes, as well for their own as for other households in their own districts. 

 Should any member desire to withdraw before the termination of the first ten years 

 from the Creamery, he has to pay a fine for every cow so withdrawn. The milk has 

 to be delivered in a clean and unadulterated state, without any disagreeable taste 

 Members are bound to keep the milk cool when it is not called for immediately after 

 milking has taken place. Two milkings are not allowed to be mixed. The milk of a 

 cow must not be delivered at the Creamery until three days after calving. The 

 milk of a cow suffering from any disease, can only be delivered when accompanied 

 by the certificate of a Veterinary Surgeon. In the event of an outbreak of a 

 contagious disease, milk must not be delivered from the farm so affected. Milk 

 which is sour, adulterated or which arrives at the Creamery in cans not thoroughly 

 clean, is rejected. Rules are laid down regarding how much food each cow is to 

 receive during the winter, and, in case any particular food interferes with the 

 quality of the butter at the Creamery, the Committee have the right to demand that 

 such feeding stuff shall be discontinued. Notwithstanding these and other severe 

 restrictions, the most interesting feature in every co-operative concern in Denmark, 

 is the extraordinary fidelity invariably observed towards their own institutions by 

 the people who participate in them. 



Speaking generally, the greatest degree of success in co-operation in any 

 country has been obtained where the associations have been started on a very small 

 scale in rural districts, to meet local or even strictly parochial conditions, and, while 

 maintaining their individual entity, have afterwards combined with other similar 

 bodies to form districts, county, or even national federations, for the attainment of 

 any common advantage. Over and over again, in the investigations made by Mr, 

 Pratt, offers the fact that the movement of co-operation in various countries, which 

 has assumed such wide-spread operations and under so many different forms, had its 

 actual rise mostly in the starting, by isolated individuals, of small associations for 

 the combined purchase of agricultural necessaries, scope of action being subsequently 

 widened, alike by the taking up of other objects, and by means of groups and f eder« 



