WHERE FARMING PAYS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, 2 October 1907, Page 1

WHERE FARMING PAYS.

PItOSPERITY OF THE PEASANTRY IN DENMARK. CAUSES OF SUCCESS. (St. James' Budget.) Mr Gerard Fiennes, who recently visited Denmark with a party of _ journalists, writes in "The Standard" : — '■ There are three main causes for the success of Danish agriculture : — (1) The soil is owned by the cultivators, _ (2) there is an excellent system of agricultural education, (3) the principal of cooperation is understood and scientifically applied. 1. The Danish farmer is owner of the soil he tills. Denmark was a.country of big estates; many still exist. But the Government has done all in its power to foster the acquisition of small parcels of land, and to establish a race of true peasants. Any maii^of ' good character who has agreed; witH a landowner to sell him a portitin of his estate can go to the Government and borrow one- third of the necessary purchase money. The loan does not bear interest, and need never be repaid. On the death of the purchaser the land passes by will ; but must not be divided. He can, however, repay the loan, and, on his doing so, he is free to sell his land, if he pleases, or do what he will with it. Otherwise he is bound to cultivate. The price varies with the extent and value of the tillage ; much of the land (in Jutland, at any rate) is of poor quality, and is obtained at a very low price, the first duty of the purchaser being reclamation. 2. The agricultural education of Denmark is the creation of the people themselves. The high Schools which are established all over the land supply a "felt uant" of the peasants. Boys and girls alike have the advantage of them, the boys attending in the winter and the girls in the summer, when the boys are employed on the land. The Danish woman does not think it derogatory to labour on the land. She is the helpmeet of her husband or her father, and, in due course, brings from six to ten children into tlie world, a fact which will mightily enhance the strength of her country. The high school is not, in itself, technical; there are 14 purely agricultural schcolsi n Denmark which supply this especial need. The High School, the conception of Bishop Grundting, 50 years ago, is devoted to the formation of character. Itr object is to teach young people "tc serve God, and to live for His hon our." The Danish High School is an aid to agriculture, where our school.' are so often a hindrance, because it teaches the dignity of manual work and the folly of discontent. It is from thif training that it follows that the Dane is content to live the life of the isolated homestead, and his wife is happy without having a neighbour with whom to gossip across the garden fence. CO-OPERATIVE METHODS. 3. Co-operation in Denmark has also sprung from the people themselves, and is an adaptation to environment. You find great institutions like the Trifolium Dairy and the great butter factories in Esbjerg, where hundreds of gallons of milk are dealt with every day ; and you find the Peasants' Diaries, to which perhaps., twenty small holdings of from four to fifty acres send their produce. The inner economy of' these institutions is interesting. A certain number of farmers had united to have their produce dealt with. At first all were taken alike without question. Then it was found that the milk from certain holdings was lacking in the proper amount of butter-fat, and depreciated the value of the whole. To combat this, an expert was appointed, whose duty itis to go round and take samples of the milk of different cows. If one provei unsatisfactory, he recommends a special diet for her, and, that failing,, he demands that the owner shall get rid of her. Every Danish cow has her own dietary, worked out on a scientific principle. If, owing to poverty, the owner cannot provide an adequate diet, his milk is paid for at a lower rate. Rough justice is thus meted out to all. RELATIVE SIZE .OF FARMS. Out of a population of. 2,600,000 Danes, 54 per cent, belong to the agricultural classes, and 46 per cent, are actual farmers, the great majority owning their own farms. Only one-fifteenth are tenants or leaseholds. Danish properties may be thus classified according to their size : — Small holdings (7a and nnder) 68,000 Peasant farms (ovei'SWatad under 60a) ..-fty.-. 121,000 Medium farms (over 50a and under 270 a) ...... .:*. ...... 51,000 "Gentleman" farms (over 270 a) 2,100 There is a distinct ■ tendency, however, to sub-divide the larger holdings, the farm of from 50 to 150 acres being in the greatest repute. The Danish Government is strict about allowing them to be sub-divided ; but small holdings are carved liberally out of the larger estates, always by consent, not by compulsion. The co-operative system of manufactures and distribution is a great feature of Danish life, and there is alse a co-operation in production of the raw material which may fitly be noticed here. Co-operative societies exist fo> the following purposes : — (1) The common purchase cf feedingstuffs for the benefit of all members. (2) The improvement- of the bred of cattle and pigs by the use of pedigree bulls and boars (horses might also be added ; there was a horse snow at Roskil.de the day we were there). (3) Expert veterinary advice as to the health and proper feeding of the stock. The last, which is known as the "Control Society," has been briefly alluded to above. Every cow is carefully tested for tuberculosis, and every pig for trichinosis, before the milk or the flesh is allowed to be sent to the lairy or bacon factory. So excellent have the results been in the case of cows, that those under "control" ' actually give, on an average, one-eighth more milk than those outside it. A PATERNAL GOVERNMENT. To sum up briefly : The stimulus of ownership; the power of scientific education ; and the benefits of co-operation have raised the Danish peasantry to a pitch of prosperity very far in advance ef the English agricultural labourer or small tenant farmer. He has .no particular natural advantages. "I wish we had some of your Essex land over hero!' was the" plaint of several Danish farmers in my ear. Now, we do not rank Essex among the most fertile of our agricultural counties; indeed, we ire content to leave a goodly pj-oportion of it derelict. i/.JThe Danistegpeasant farmer is, in short, a parad&i: Helis the product of an individualist .spcialism ; he flourishes by means of Erpe T^de, in defiance of the underlying axiom of Free Trade, that everything ' should be produced where the national conditions aro most favourable to its production. He produces for export^ and import's for his own consumption.