December, 1911.] 



541 Agricultural Finance & Co-operation. 



private persons (Heeresgaardsme jerier), 

 211 were communal dairies (Paellesme 

 jerier), and the remainder, 1,101, were 

 co-operative dairies. 



Associations of Co-operative Dairies. — 

 The greater number of these dairies are 

 again associated in various ways. The 

 most comprehensive of these associations 

 is, perhaps, the Committee of the Feder- 

 ated Danish Dairy Associations (De 

 samvirkende Danske Mejeriforenings 

 Forretningsudvalg). This Committee, 

 which was founded in 1899, consists ot 

 the Presidents of the Associated Dairies' 

 Unions of Jutland, of Zealand-Lolland- 

 Falster, and of the Funen Dairies' Asso- 

 ciation, in other words, of the dairy 

 association ot the whole of Denmark 

 propel'. Its object is to consider the 

 proposals to be laid before the yearly 

 meetings of the association, and to 

 endeavour to concentrate and unite the 

 efforts of the various societies in all 

 matters connected with dairy associ- 

 ations. The State, in the yearly budget 

 for 1907-8, granted the Committee Kr. 

 4,000 (£222) towards the expenses of 

 butter exhibitions, and Kr. 1,000 (£55) 

 for the wages of a consultant in the 

 control of the dairies. 



Taking next the local associations of 

 dairies, the Presidents of which form 

 the Committee above-mentioned, we find 

 the Associated Dairies' Union of Jut- 

 land, composed of all the thirteen minor 

 dairy associations of the peninsula, who 

 again have as members 504 dairies. The 

 object of this association is to form a 

 connecting link between the various dairy 

 associations of Jutland, and in general to 

 further the interest of the dairy in- 

 dustry by holding butter competitions, 

 exhibitions, giving advice, and so on. 

 Each dairy association pays a yearly 

 contribution calculated upon the amount 

 of milk dealt with (in the year 1907-8 

 this contribution was Kr. 3 (3s. id.) per 

 million pounds of milk), and each associ- 

 ation sends one representative for each 

 seven dairies of the association. The 

 union has a yearly budget of Kr. 14,000 

 (£777). The subscriptions amount to Kr. 

 6,000 (£333). The State contributed Kr. 

 6,650 (£369), which was expended in 

 securing the services of an expert as 

 consultant, in arranging butter exhibi- 

 tions, and generally in forwarding the 

 production of milk and butter. 



The Associated Dairies Union of Zea- 

 land and Lolland-Flaster has a member- 

 ship of five dairy associations, or in all 

 140 dairies. The Daily Association of 

 Funen is composed of 145 dairies. Both 

 these associations have generally the 

 same object as the Jutland union above- 

 mentioned. 



Election of the Boards of Co-operative 

 Institutions. — As a general rule all asso- 

 ciations in Denmark coming within the 

 scope of co-operation are controlled by 

 a committee and chairman elected for 

 different lengths of time — usually for a 

 year. It has been found that it is better 

 to keep such committees separate, and 

 as a consequence we find a number ot 

 such boards — in the smaller districts and 

 villages often composed of the same 

 men — directing different undertakings 

 in the various branches of agricultural 

 co-operation, and work side by side 

 throughout the land. 



The contributions to the dairy asso- 

 ciations are generally based on the 

 amount of milk dealt with ; in the case 

 of the dairies themselves sometimes on 

 the number of cows belonging to the 

 subscriber, sometimes on the amount of 

 milk ; while in the case of bacon fac- 

 tories the subscription is, as a rule, regu- 

 lated by the number of hogs slaughter- 

 ed, the subscriber in this latter case 

 generally guaranteeing a fixed sum. 



Larger product of the Cows on Smaller 

 Farms. — The average yield of milk from 

 cows on farms of the two smallest 

 classes is considerably higher than that 

 on larger farms. This is probably large- 

 ly due to the fact that on the smaller 

 farms the number of cows kept is pro- 

 portionately fewer, and the farmer is 

 consequently able to attend to them 

 personally and more thoroughly than is 

 possible on a larger scale. 



Control Societies.— In 1895 a new de- 

 parture was made in agricultural asso- 

 ciations, by the formation of the first 

 Control Society (Kontrolforening); the 

 number had increased to 479 in 1907, 

 with an aggregate membership of about 

 12,000. These societies are aided by the 

 State, the subvention in 1906-7 being Kr. 

 120,000 (£6,666). 



Formation of Control Societies. — 

 Though not actually co-operative under- 

 takings, these societies are formed on 

 co-operative lines by the farmers in 

 various districts- A membership of eight 

 is necessary before the society can re- 

 ceive State aid, though this aid may be 

 refused by the Minister of Agriculture 

 in certain circumstances. 



Object of Control Societies — Improve- 

 ment of Breed of Cattle.— The principal 

 aim of these societies is to improve the 

 milk-producing capacities of the breed 

 of cattle in Denmark. With this object 

 an expert is appointed as'controller (it 

 is calculated that one controller can 

 look after about 1,000 cows). This officer 

 travels from one farm to another in his 

 district and gives the farmers advice as 



