Dairying  in  Denmark. 
181 
question,  is  reduced  to  a minimum  in  consequence  of  Mrs.  Niel- 
son’s extended  reputation  as  a first-rate  dairy-woman.  She 
generally  has  about  a dozen  farmers’  daughters  as  working 
pupils,  who  are  boarded  and  lodged  in  the  farm-house,  re- 
maining for  various  periods  extending  from  six  weeks  to  two 
years.  The  pupils  who  remain  only  for  a short  time,  pay  for 
their  instruction  a considerable  amount  relatively,  but  they  all 
work  as  hard  as  an  ordinary  dairymaid  could  be  expected  to. 
Their  usual  length  of  stay  is  six  months,  and  vacancies  in  their 
ranks  are  always  immediately  filled  up.  I inquired  the  position 
of  the  parents  of  these  girls,  and  learnt  that  most  of  them  were 
peasant-farmers,  keeping  from  ten  to  fifteen  cows,  but  some  have 
larger  farms.  One  girl  was  indicated  to  me  whose  father  kept 
forty  cows ; she  was  about  to  be  married,  and  her  parents 
thought  her  fortunate  in  being  able  to  learn  under  Mrs.  Nielson 
how  the  dairy  of  her  future  home  could  be  turned  to  the  most 
profitable  account.  Mrs.  Nielson’s  only  daughter — a married 
woman,  whose  only  child  is  again  a little  girl — also  helps  in  the 
-dairy,  but  chiefly  devotes  her  time  to  the  housekeeping. 
Each  pupil  has  five  cows  allotted  to  her  in  rotation,  and  the 
results  of  the  several  milkings  are  carefully  noted,  the  produce 
of  each  cow  being  entered  separately  morning  and  evening, 
together  with  the  name  of  the  milker.  Mrs.  Nielson  thus  has  a 
practical  means  of  knowing  whether  her  pupils  can  perform 
satisfactorily  one  of  the  most  important,  as  it  is  one  of  the  most 
fundamental  and  most  neglected,  operations  connected  with 
dairy-farming.  The  knowledge  that  the  results  of  their  milk- 
ings are  “ booked,”  also  produces  a spirit  of  emulation  amongst 
the  girls  which  gives  far  better  results  than  any  system  of 
supervision. 
Yrery  little  need  be  said  about  farm-labour,  as  its  cost  is 
included  in  the  price  given  for  the  milk  ; still,  it  may  be 
interesting  to  state  that  so  near  Copenhagen  the  labourer’s 
wages  are  2s.  3d.  per  day  in  the  spring  (of  course  much  less  in 
the  winter),  and  2s.  7 \d.  per  day  in  harvest-time.  Unmarried 
labourers,  sleeping  in  a room  off  the  stable  and  fed  in  the  farm- 
house, receive  in  money  up  to  81.  or  even  9 1.  per  annum,  but 
nearly  the  whole  of  this  is  reckoned  as  for  their  summer-work, 
as  during  the  long  winter  they  are  considered  to  be  almost 
sufficiently  paid  by  being  boarded  and  lodged. 
The  third  element  in  every  manufacturing  business  is,  of 
course,  the  price  received  for  the  manufactured  article.  When 
one  has  to  deal  with  articles  like  butter,  and  many  descriptions 
of  cheese,  the  prices  of  which  vary  continually  in  sympathy 
with  the  seasons,  the  fluctuations  of  the  popular  taste,  and  other 
causes,  it  would  be  delusive  to  quote  prices  per  lb.  at  any 
