Junk 1907.] 



397 



Miscellaneous, 



warning has been given. The local societies remit the eggs to the central organi- 

 sation which arranges for grading, packing and sale and fixes the price per lb. to be 

 given to the farmer less the cost of collection and other expenses. Membership of 

 the local societies is generally obtained in return for an entrance fee of six-pence. 

 So profitable has the business become that the Danes send their own eggs to Great 

 Britain and import eggs from Russia for home consumption, the difference between 

 the price they get for the former and the amount they pay for the latter repre- 

 senting by the end of the year a fairly substantial sum. 



Among the many other forms of co-operative organisation in Denmark an 

 important role is filled by the association formed for the supply of agricultural 

 necessaries— seeds, feeding-stuffs, manures, machinery, etc. — at the lowest price and 

 in the best condition. Here again the local societies are formed in turn into large 

 federations. The ramifications of this co-operative purchase system extend to 

 practically every parish in Denmark. Again, the growth of the egg industry has 

 given rise to numerous poultry societies for the improvement of fowls. Some of 

 these societies have a membership of from 2,000 to 3,000 persons. They receive 

 grants from the Government and their operations are greatly facilitated by experts 

 who devote their time to delivering lectures or giving personal advice to the farmers. 



There are also local bee-keepers' associations for making honey. They 

 number about sixty with a membership of 5,000. 



Thus, there is hardly any branch of agricultural industry in Denmark which 

 is not represented by its separate co-operative organisation. As a rule, each 

 particular co-operative society works on independent lines, for its own 

 special object, so that one farmer may be a member of many different organisations, 

 according to the particular branches of agriculture in which he is interested. The 

 system has been so successfully established in the country that a few years ago 

 the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction in Ireland thought it 

 necessary to send a deputation of members to enquire and report on co-operative 

 agriculture and rural conditions in Denmark, and the results oi the enquiry are 

 published in a report which was issued in the autumn of 1903. 



The rapid development of this co-operative effort in Denmark has brought 

 about changes in the economic conditions in the country that have been almost 

 revolutionary in their character. Not only has it effectually checked the serious 

 consequences that seemed to be impending as the combined result of agricultural 

 depression and national disaster, but the general position of Denmark to-day is 

 one of greater prosperity than ever, for the Danes are deriving more advantage 

 from the extremely limited amount of soil they now possess than they got from 

 the land before the dimensions of their country were so seriously curtailed. 



EARTH-EATING AND THE EARTH-EATING HABIT IN INDIA, 



By D. Hooper and H. H. Mann. 

 The original paper on this subject, by Messrs D. Hooper and H. H. Mann, is a 

 long one, but as earth-eating is by no means unknown in Ceylon we give here the 

 general summary. 



Taking all the facts which Ave have gathered together on the subject of 

 earth-eating and the earth-eating hahit in India, it is possible to reach some very 

 definite conclusions. 



In the first place it seems certain that earth-eating by women is not a racial 

 characteristic, that it is determined by no ethnological boundaries, that, equally 

 outside India as in the country, it is occasionally found among almost every class and 

 race of people. In this country it extends throughout the length and breadth of the 



