AGRICULTURE ON THE CONTINENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10595, 9 November 1897, Page 3

AGRICULTURE ON THE CONTINENT.

3S3ONS FOR ' BRITISH FARMERS.

V 'BY JAMES LONG, > . Author of "British Dairy-farming," Ac.

[All Bigots Reserved.]

' No. IV. WHY DANISH BUTTER OCCOPIES ODE MARKETS

;;IV V IN PLACE OF BRITISH. It might be.possible to answer the above question ■ by replying that Danish butter occupies our home markets in place of our own butter because the farmers of Denmark produce it at less expense, bub the object we have in view is to show how they are enabled to ship their produce to this country at a remunerative price and to undersell us. As, will be seen in the following remarks, their success i 3 largely owing to education, to the perfection of a practical system both of production and sale, and to the national form of, combination. It is well to remark at the outset that there are no expensive agricultural or dairy schools in Denmark, no high salaries paid to officials or instructors, and no large grants made by the Government. As a matter of fact the technical education grant made to !\n-- l jmportant English'county, is, 1 believe, considerably larger than the whole grant made on behalf of Danish dairy-farming, if indeed it would nob cover the entire grant made on behalf of agriculture. There are special allowances; made by the Government for the purposes of helping dairymen and dairywomen to learn their business. In addition to the ■ agricultural schools the Poultry Farming Society receives a'grant with the object of improving the poultry industry, while a sum of . no less than £17,000 is annually paid for prizes for the encouragement of the improvement of Danish livestock and of the agricultural institutions of the country.; There aro, too, certain experts who are retained and paid by the State some £4000 a year to advise the farmers, in addition to which there are others in . the service of the Royal Agricultural Society. Some support is given to a few Credit Institutions and Agricultural Land Banks; and, lastly, the railway system of Denmark being under State control, all milk and butter are sent by passenger train at goods rates, while stock foods and manures are charged for conveyance at the lowest possible figure. These facts are quoted with the object of showing that a great deal is done by the Danish Government in tho interests of agriculture, which really means the support of butter production, for practically speaking every farmer, in the country is a producer of butter. 1 • Although tho Danish system as it is conducted to-day had not been so fully developed on. my first visit of investigation fourteen years ago, it was in force and was a marked success; but at that time we had not a single dairy school'in England, we had no recognised system of buttermaking, and not a single expert who could answer certain questions, thoroughly understood in Denmark, but to which I'endeavoured to obtain replies. Three or four years later there was not one qualified person to be found for the position _of teacher of Cheddar cheesemaking during the summer season in Scotland, and for which a liberal t salary ■ was offered. I made the same remark in a report to the Highland Society of Scotland upon education in dairy-farming in Europe and America in the year 1888 having been applied to ■to recommend such a person, It will therefore be seen that the Danes had! a very considerable start of us in Epgland; and' that although . our' own system of technical education has done, i and is still doing,' a great) deal,' they are working upon other lines of a national charactorftvhich are ignored in this country as almost everything is ignored which involve* the assistance of the farmer by Government. >

When we say that every Danish farmer is a buttermaker we provide one of the keys to tho solution of the reason why they are so willing to co-operato and to abide by tho regulations of the Government. In 1883 the system of cold sotting of milk was almost national; at the present time the.whole of the milk is separated and either sent to co-operative dairies or to the dairies of very largo farmers, who purchase it and utilise it in the manufacture of butter. To speak in general terms, no two farmers work upon different principles or plans; they follow the regulations,which are laid down by the dairy experts, or, what amounts to the same thing, they produce upon • the ■ system which they have been taught at the dairy schools or the dairy farms, to which they were sent by the State, so that there is no .difficulty in obtaining consignments from given groups of farmers which are practically of identical or almost identical quality. The cows are chiefly of the same breed, the crops grown for their consumption are almost identical, for an enormous area of arablo land is used in the growth of stock foods, The artificial rations. provided'for winter are as near as possible the same, and the foods excluded under the [advice of .the experts are also excluded by the regulations of the creameries. Cleanliness is not simply demanded, but is enforced by the same regulations; there is no hurry in the early morning to get the milk off by train as in this country; time is allowed for the careful cleaning and feeding of the cattle,' and the conditions of farm life are quite opposed to (hose,which exist on tho majority ' of English dairy farms. : The ' cream t after separation is '• cooled—a most necessary plan— ripened. In . many cases'the ripening is the result of the addition of a " starter," which; may , be prepared from cultivated bacteria or by simply adding a portion of buttermilk . from a previous churning. - ' " . There are in Denmark about) 1200 cooperative creameries which are practically owned by the farmers who have united to build then; the committee purchases the milk by weight, and very often in accordance with its fat percentage as well. : The regulation!! vary in some slight degree; but they are based upon certain lines, which may be referred to as follows -.—The payment upon entrance as a member of so much per cow, being the number of cows milked by each farmer, who is required to give notice—usually three months—of his intention to withdraw. '■! Every farmer supplying milk must take back the buttermilk and separated milk at a price which is fixed periodically; not infrequently this is about the hundredth part of a shilling per pound. After the payment of loans obtained for the starting of creameries and making certain provisions which are of importance, >, the' profits remaining are divided among the shareholders, who receive a percentage upon each share -they possess or; in some other 'satisfactory manner. In England the farmer is usually required to convoy his milk to .the factory or creamery,; | in Denmark ' the milk i is ■ fetched' subject u to the condition that in certain cases small quantities of : milk are required to be delivered upon the high road along which the collecting cart passes. > The farms are periodically inspected and fines inflicted if the conditions are not perfect and thorough cleanliness observed, -i The feeding; is regulated; such foods as turnips, and even peas, boans, and vetches,; being forbidden, whereas rape cake (which i= extremely cheap and not particularly palatable to the cattle) is recommended, its use being sometimes insisted upon under the belief that it adds to the flavour or aroma of the butter. - Bad feeding subjects the farmer to a fine. It is worthy of remark that in everv co-operative society the members are enabled to obtain - all purchased manures atlow rates, committee buying large .quantities for' their use," 80 that the' co-operative system includes purchase i as woll as the sale of the produce of 'the farm. Should disease break out in the dairy or in the : family of the farmer, certain; measures must - be immediately - taken under, the ■ penaltyf of | severe fines; - and - steps ars taken, not merely to inflict ' the : penaltieo when they have been earned, but to prevent the possibility : of the Regulations ; being

broken. One of the most important) of all T matters connected -with the Danish creamery system is the provision of competent mana- f gers, : That has . been a great difficulty in $ this country, as in Ireland; but it is over- • come; in J Denmark, inasmuch as so many 1 persons are thoroughly trained to the work ' —which lis , really the. life work of every J farmer—that there are always both compe- , tent and eligible candidates. . , ( CgWo 'have seen * that' the production of ( butter in : Denmark is, and has been, the J first consideration. We do nob refer to the ] mere manufacture of large quantities, re- i gardless of any other feature, but to the ' production of an ' article of . high quality, 1 made to satisfy the requirements of British ' consumers, who, in consequence of such , satisfaction, ;■ have , become permanent ens- . tomera. '• The ■! system is the "result vof , thoroughly : educating ; the farming com- ■ munity, bub it must nob be supposed that ■ their education is complete. " It is, it is i true, complete so far as it goes; but the scientific advisers of the Danish people are ! engaged in systematic investigation, which j is responsible for a great deal of the know- 1 ledge which has been gained, and which is continually ; bringing. to light new. facts which aro communicated to the farmers,* and which : enable them to improve • the flavour and general keoping quality of their butter. We wouldtherefore add that scientific investigation is playing an important part in 'the : success of Danish farming., • ' How we come to a feature of quite another colour. Years ago the Danish farmer sold his butter to Danish merchants, who in their turn consigned it to English agents for sale to the trade, usually the wholesale trade. > Now, the butter from Denmark goes direct—in the great majority of cases through an organisation .which has been formed by the farmers' themselves—to the English trader, thus avoiding the Danish merchant on the one hand and the English agent oh the other,' and consequently saving the intermediate profits. Had such a saving not been,effected the Danish farmer would have remained in a still worse condition than .before, and have been less able to compete . against the - ■ enormous supplies which arrive from, the Antipodes. Before despatch Danish butter is ■ graded, and consequently each consignment is of one quality realising one price. This practice, again, is important and remunerative, inasmuch as when the consignment of casks was of a mixed character the value was fixed in accordance with tho market value of the inferior casks than of those which were of superior quality. .An English buyer is now in a position to learn by telegraph and to order by wiro through the Associated Dairy Organisation of the country, exactly what he wants for his next week's trade, and on receipt of his wire the butter is immediately despatched, arriving in almost as perfect a condition as. when it left the farms of those who produced it. 1 Here wo have in another form a principle which has been adopted by many of the blending houses of Normandy and Brittany. In these provinces of: France butter is bought in the open market,' graded on its arrival at the factory, and then blended in accordance with its quality, the : mixed butter being immediately despatched to England. _ The Danes do not blend, and perhaps it is for this reason, among others, that their butter keeps better. Tho permanent butter show in Copenhagen costs the Government about £1500 per annum. Farmers who desire to compete receive their orders by wire to despatch butter which is already made; it is judged at the commencement and at _ the end of the fourteen days during which ib is exhibited, and its keeping quality as well as its flavour is further tested so that the authorities know who are the best makers, and are therefore in a position to determine where to send the numerous students, whom they advise and' assist , in their education. The farmers who exhibit are required to send full data as to the feeding and management of their cattle, while the Government pays for the butter they send at market price. ' r * t' Lastly, there are . a certain number of consulting experts who advise farmers in all that concerns their work ; these men,are thoroughly experienced, and cost t the farmer only tlfeir railway fare and a small sum for subsistence, unless they are put up at the farm. Every difficulty is in this way removed and every fault corrected. It- is well known that an expert—Mr. Faber— also resides in this country and devotes his time to the promotion of the interesb of the Danish butter trade, which indeed he does right well.. If we. add to the above remarks' the statemonb that the Danish margarine law has been a most satisfactory safeguard against the fraudulent sale of Danish . butter we shall completo a.fairly clear and practical list of the means by which the Danish ■ farmer maintains his position in the British market. ».. .