694 



Notes on Agriculture Abroad. 



[NOV., 



£14,825,000 were held on loan. The total liability of the individual 

 Central Federations amounted to £13,180,000, i.e., 89 per cent, of the 

 borrowed capital. The costs of administration amounted to £43,643. 

 The combined purchase of goods reached a value of .£9,350,000. The 

 associations purchased, e.g., coal for £900,000. The value of manure 

 sold was £2,500,000; of fodder, £2,435,000. The value of grain and 

 potatoes sold amounted to £2,935,000. 



Legislation as to Agricultural Produce in Denmark. — The Danish 

 Parliament have recently passed an Act, dated April 12th, 191 1, which 

 amends the law as to the trade in butter and foreign agricultural 

 produce. 



Under this Act the colouring of Danish butter by means of aniline 

 dyes is prohibited, and no butter must be sold or imported which 

 contains preservatives other than common salt or more than 20 per cent, 

 of water. The sale or importation of butter containing more than 16 

 per cent, and less than 20 per cent, of water is also forbidden except 

 on the condition that the article is specially marked. 



The limit of water in butter exported from Denmark is fixed at 

 16 per cent., and the butter must have been produced from pasteurised 

 cream or milk in a dairy accepted for control. 



The prescribed brand (the Lurbrand) will in future be confined to 

 butter produced in dairies accepted for control, and must not be used 

 for other goods, and various provisions are made to prevent the misuse 

 of the brand. The use of the Lurbrand is compulsory in the case of 

 butter produced under the control, except in certain circumstances 

 specified in the Act, and the brand must be placed both on the packages 

 and directly on the butter itself. Butter for export packed in hermetic- 

 ally-sealed receptacles is exempt from the provisions as to marking with 

 the Lurbrand, but such butter must be specially marked to show that 

 it is Danish produce. Further regulations as to the Lurbrand may be 

 made by the Minister of Agriculture, who is also empowered, if re- 

 quested by the Dairy and Commercial Trades' Organisations, to make 

 regulations as to the preservation of purity and cleanliness in creameries 

 and on premises where butter is offered for sale. 



The Act also lays down the conditions on which manufacturers of 

 butter from pasteurised cream or milk are accepted for control, and 

 under which the control is regulated. Dairies accepted for control 

 are subject to inspection, and may be deprived of their right to use 

 the Lurbrand if the prescribed conditions are not observed. 



Imported Icelandic, ; Danish West Indian, or foreign agricultural 

 produce (including butter, eggs, lard, tallow, honey, and meat, 

 slaughter-offal, hermetically-packed goods, sausages, and other comesti- 

 bles prepared from horses, cattle, sheep, goats, swine, and poultry) must 

 be marked with distinct marks or indications of origin, whether sold 

 wholesale or retail, or exported, and the goods must not be marked in 

 such a way as to suggest that they are of Danish origin. Shops or 

 stores where such goods are kept must display a distinct notice to this ! 

 effect, and blends of Danish and foreign lard must not be sold or , 

 exported unless they are marked as directed by the Minister of Agri- 1 

 culture to indicate that they are blends. Lurbrand butter, also, if offered 

 for sale within Denmark, must be conspicuously marked as such, and j 

 must be kept in the original package. 



