498 Foreign and Colonial Office Reports, [sept., 



besides a large sale of milk in Copenhagen and Aarhus. The Danish 

 Dairy Association, which has now been in existence about four years, 

 is a union of 102 contributing dairies. 



As regards bacon-curing, the first co-operative slaughter-house was 

 founded in 1887 in Jutland, and in 1908 there were 33 slaughter-houses 

 with 101,456 members. During 1908 these co-operative slaughter- 

 houses accounted for 1,549,550 pigs, against 1,311,241 pigs in 1907, 

 besides 16,004 cattle and 14,344 calves, while other slaughter-houses 

 killed about 500,000 pigs, bringing the total number of pigs slaughtered 

 in Denmark during 1908 to over 2,000,000. 



The attempts to put the export of eggs on a rational basis began in 

 the middle of 1890, and in 1906 there were 790 societies with a member- 

 ship numbering 57,000. The Danish Farmers' Co-operative Egg 

 Export Association has the same number of egg-collecting centres as 

 in 1907 — namely, 500, with a membership of 40,000. The value of the 

 turnover in 1908 amounted to about ^250,000. The price members 

 have received for eggs has been $%d. per lb. During 1908 there has 

 been a considerable demand from the United Kingdom for sittings. 



Sheep Breeding in the Falkland Islands. — The Annual Report, issued 

 by the Colonial Office, on the Falkland Islands (No. 599) gives an 

 account of the sheep breeding, which forms the principal industry of 

 the Islands. 



It is stated that the number of sheep in the Falklands in 1847 was 

 estimated to be 200. In i860 the number had been increased to about 

 10,000, but it was not until some years later that sheep-farming engaged 

 serious attention. 



The year 1867 has been given as the date when the first strenuous 

 efforts were made to establish the industry on a permanent footing. 

 The hardy settlers of the West Falklands were the pioneers. It was 

 an up-hill task, but patience and perseverance won the day. The sheep 

 for stocking runs were imported from the River Plate, but the climate 

 of their new home proved at first to be so uncongenial that in some 

 cases 30 to 50 per cent, perished. The difficulties in the way of trans- 

 porting the wool to Stanley, to be placed on the market, were many, 

 and the expense was great. The farmers, nevertheless, maintained 

 their courage, and the industry grew each year in importance. Whereas 

 the number of sheep in the Colony in 1867 was 35,000, ten years later 

 it was 283,000. In the following decade the number rose to 563,000, 

 and reached in 1896 the record total of 801,000. The average for the 

 ten years ending 1908 was 720,000. 



Greater attention than formerly is now being paid to the selection 

 and culling of ewes, and the periodical improvement of flocks by the 

 importation of pure blood. The manner in which sheep have become 

 adapted to the forbidding climate of the Falklands is illustrated by the 

 fact that the lambing season of 1908 resulted in an average of 77 per 

 cent. Twenty-four Romney Marsh rams were imported during the 

 past year from New Zealand, and nine from England. 



The Report states that, owing to legislation protecting the Colony 

 against the introduction of disease, and also making dipping com- 

 pulsory, the pastoral industry is probably in a more flourishing state 

 than at any previous period. 



Agriculture in Russia.— The Report on the trade of the Consular 



