Co-operative Dairies in Denmarlc. 
383 
this product soon became a rational industrial process, the farmer 
furnishing only the raw material. The export of butter became 
more considerable and the sale in foreign markets more certain. 
Nevertheless, the first hopes were soon falsified, and the new 
establishments succumbed in great numbers ; but this want of success 
should be attributed less to the system itself than to the defective 
conditions under which it was tried. The makers, still without 
experience, often also with insufficient capital, set up their factories 
in places ill adapted to the purpose, and many factories were notably 
lacking in the necessary number of Centrifugal machines to obtain 
a rapid enough separation. Again, there still being no means of 
controlling the quality of the milk, farmers strove above all for 
quantity, and fed their cows with that object, employing without 
scruple foods which diminished the value of the milk, and also water- 
ing or partially skimming it. Not being interested in the profits, on 
the contrary jealous of those which they supposed were realised by 
the manufacturer, they took no pains to secure the good keeping of 
their milk, which often underwent alteration from being kept in 
unsuitable vessels. The manufacturer dared not risk any criticism 
for fear of sending the farmer to a rival, and thus driving from his 
factory the material necessary for its working. 
Another difficulty consisted in the necessity of utilising the bye- 
products — the separated milk and buttermilk. Cheese-making and 
pig-rearing required costly buildings and plant, and the cheeses and 
pigs had often to be sold in an unfavourable market ; for the 
manufacturer, having little security to offer, could obtain little credit, 
and frequently had to sacrifice to-morrow’s profit in order to meet 
to-day’s engagement. It is well to recognise that these diverse 
causes of failure are nearly all independent of the system itself. A 
steam dairy belonging to a single owner ought to be quite capable of 
competing with the co-operative dairies. It would suffice to have 
plant similar to what the latter possess, and to be furnished with con- 
trol apparatus allowing of the purchase of milk from the producers 
according to its quality ; finally to oblige the latter by contract to take 
back the skim-milk and buttermilk, and thus relieve the proprietor 
from the exigencies of pig-feeding and cheese-making. A certain 
number of dairies established on this principle are in existence, and 
apparently are doing well. Nevertheless, the producer would always 
distrust the exactitude of the control apparatus, and, as this can 
only give an approximate result, when it is below the truth he 
suffers an irreparable loss. Under the co-operative system, on the 
contrary, the producer recovers in the annual dividends compen- 
sation for this temporary loss. Moreover, this loss itself is dis- 
tributed equally amongst the producers, who are the only share- 
holders ; for if the apparatus does not indicate exactly the quantity 
of cream contained in a sample of milk, it does indicate without any 
error the proportionate richness in cream of the different samples 
tested at the same time. 
Let us add in conclusion that if farmers are indifferent or hostilo 
to the prosperity of an enterprise from which their interests are 
