18 



Our Imports of Dairy Produce. 



area of Denmark, according to the latest official returns, is 

 7,062,000 acres, of which 3,029,000 acres are under corn crops, 

 3,082,000 acres under permanent and rotation grasses, 

 130,000 acres under roots and 129,000 acres under potatoes, 

 and 47,000 acres under spurrey. The Danish agricultural 

 statistics for the past twenty years, show that there has been 

 a large extension of the arable acreage under fodder crops 

 and of that under spurrey and roots ; but the remarkable 

 development of the dairying industry, and in a lesser degree 

 of pig-keeping, has created a greater demand for natural and 

 artificial feeding stuffs than could be satisfied by the produc- 

 tive capabilities of the country, and there is consequently a 

 considerable importation of oil-cake and bran. 



In 1895-96 the net exports of butter from Denmark 

 amounted to 99,000,000 lbs, this being 72,000,000 lbs. in 

 excess of the quantity exported eleven years ago.- The 

 great extension of dairying indicated by these figures has 

 been closely connected with the growth of the co-operative 

 movement among dairy-farmers. It is estimated that there 

 are now 1,000 associations of Danish farmers engaged in the 

 manufacture of butter, principally for the British market. A 

 full account of the system upon which the co-operative 

 dairies are worked has already been published by the Board 

 of Agriculture,-^ and it may be sufficient to state here briefly 

 that these establishments are, as a rule, erected by co-opera- 

 tive associations of farmers keeping cows, the necessary 

 capital for the initial outlay being usually borrowed on the 

 joint security of the members. When the building debt 

 incurred by a society has been extinguished, the assets are 

 apportioned as shares among the members in the proportion 

 to the quantity of milk delivered by each. The whole of the 



2 The net ex 



ports of butter in each year 



since 1884-85 have been 



as under : — 





Lbs. 





Lbs. 



1 1884-85 



- 27,242,000 



1890-91 



77,6io,coo 



1885-86 



• 35.457,000 



1891-92 



75,960,000 



1886-87 



- 38 593,000 



1892-93 - 



78,956,000 



1887-88 



- 51,950,000 



189394 - 



91,023,000 



1888-89 



- 56.885,000 



1894-95 



87,995,000 



1889- 90 



. 72,043,000 



1895-96 - 



99,294,000 



Reports upon Dairy Farming in Denmark, Sweden and Germany. C. 7,019. 



