384 
Co-operative Dairies in Denmark. 
excluded, they will attach themselves quickly to one which assures 
them an immediate, though it may be smaller, profit, and pro- 
mises them in the long run not only dividends but the rights of 
proprietorship. 
Co-operative Dairies. 
The wholesale dairies under single ownership, although not 
generally successful, yet served the purpose of familiarising people 
with the use of dairy machinery, and especially of Centrifugal 
separators. These machines excited much mistrust at the beginning, 
and, like all new inventions, undoubtedly required the improvements 
always brought about by time and use. The drawbacks and failures 
incident to insufficient experience were at first set down to the 
machines themselves. The alteration undergone by the separated 
milk, now avoided by the system of pasteurisation , were attributed 
to the system of separation. Some physicians had declared that this 
milk contained insufficient nourishment, and was even injurious to 
infants and young animals. This opinion, which rapidly obtained 
credence, although supported by no precise experiments, was com- 
bated by Professors Fjord and Panum, who demonstrated that the 
slight inferiority in butter fat as compared with ordinary skim-milk 
was well compensated by the superior freshness and purity of the 
separated milk. There is, in fact, formed on the walls of the separating 
vessel in the Centrifugal system a semi-solid layer, which retains not 
only the accidental impurities accumulated by the milk, but also a 
great number of injurious organisms. As to the alimentary value of 
separated milk, it was clearly proved by numerous analyses to afford 
excellent and economical nourishment. In 1882 the last appre- 
hensions had disappeared, and Centrifugal machines were generally 
employed in butter-making. Then it was that the first co-operative 
dairies were founded. Those who organised them profited by the 
previous experience to avoid the defects of the former systems. The 
main principle of the new concerns — that of giving satisfaction to all 
by an equitable division of profits — went far to assure success. 
The co-operative dairies sprang up as it were spontaneously, 
appearing at the outset in the west of J utland, where the inhabitants, 
gifted with much business aptitude, were the first to recognise the 
weak points of the private steam dairies. Founded exclusively by 
small milk producers, the new dairies soon attracted the large 
farmers, who saw in them a means of reducing their general expenses, 
and their example influenced those who still hesitated. The milk 
being paid for according to quality, each cowkeeper endeavoured to 
improve the feeding and housing of his cattle. 
The prosperity of the first factories had the effect of encouraging 
the rise of others : they now number 1,500, a large figure, having 
regard to the small population and extent of Denmark. 1 The 
number of cows supplying each factory varies from 200 to 1,500, 
700 to 1,000 being the most frequent. Some of the shareholders 
Area of Denmark, 14,789 square miles; population (in 1890), 2,172,205, 
