DAIRYING IN DENMARK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2905, 17 November 1909, Page 6

DAIRYING IN DENMARK.

I INTERESTING SETTLEMENT j ' EXPERIMENTS. I LAND OF THREE MILKINGS.

! • The visitor might -.veil wonder how the f native-born stay-at-home Dace understands i his Biblical metaphors. There are no 1 mountains there to ..skip like rams, no I " high rocks for . the conies," no valleys I to "laugh and ting.' no rivers, and few | streams. With the Hollander, the Dan« I must use his imagination in these things: the same as the New Zealander docs over ruined castles and Norman churches. But Denmark gains by this physical flatness. r One "might say that, with the exception of some parts of the Peninsular of Jutland. if beech forests were felled and peat bogs reclaimed, almost every acre of the 14.789 square mile^ (9.419,217 acres) — which is all j ihe land her peninsula and several islands | comprise — would be available for cult.ivaI tion. Of those 9.419,217 acres seven millions are now under the >>Icugh. The Ixffci; land i> in the islands. The area of j New Zealand is 56.349 910 acres, and her i occupied yica 37,565.000 acres. Denmark' •< I population is 2£ millions, of whom 900,000 are engaged in agriculture. I A quaint charm and interest are onre's I first unpres-lons on entering along tha I by-\va\s of tins old-new land. Historically ] you are interested because here once trod a great nation of bygone dajs; industrially, you know that these people, with a wonder- '• fr.l revixal. have raised themselves from j ths dast of their recent German defeat to i a pinnacle of greatness ; they are also the j world's e.vionon*s of co-cperation. To t'io i eye. 'the soft undulations of ihe country, the Httla- height-> wooded with beech and plane tree, the iong «weepmg meadow .•». | the distant horizon — all suggest calm and restfulness Sometimes a venturesome fiord i steals far inland among the sedges. How i beautiful are these fiords of Denmark ! Ancient win-dmills resolve awkwardly, and , jou naturally look front them to the wooden clogs of the peonle. The clustering farm hotiK^. with little church windows i and high gable straw roofs, the hedgcless I roads, the homely, spruce folk all combine , to <?elight with their picturesqueu-ess. Ther.> is also a good deal of quaintness about the ' dairy industry itsslf, especially to the 1 colonial bred among the square wooden cottages of extremely utilitarian farms. ( But a eloper acquaintance gives rise to . feelings entirely of admiration for the <"cj markuHe machine-like precision of everyi thing; connected wit'i the industry. The da ly industry in Denmark, in fact, is j v huge machine, and e'tery move in the ] game i-^ a cog in the wheel. Some of the 1 machinery is in the citic=. Even the cows ' thamseKes, deorived of a leisurely roamingover the field=, cairpedWl to eat and drink whaL is given them, milked thrice a day, se?m more like machines than* animals. i You come to regard tliem as such, esJ pecially \\-hen you leain that every pound | of food 's expected to produce so mucii j butter fat and that if it doesn't .he reason ■ j will be bought and t.ba "defect," if pos- , sibJe, remedied. The Danish system mak-°s i it quite- possible to trace back upon poor ( results. Denmark is a country of small holdings. ! , In 1904 the statistics showed that of a. total ' of 75,271 farms 73,200 were not more thar- , 258 acres in size, and 70,000 were under ' 200 acres. No fewer than. 21,582 were from 24 to* 48 aores •in extent. It is well worth according here a system. that exists for the promotion, of small holdings. Under a comparatively new lev a farm labourer, as soon * as' he has saved one-tenth 'cf the value, can purchase a house and fran> one to 10 acree of land, th^ Government gran-ting a loan of the remaining nine-tenths of the" 'money at ♦ per cent., of which 1 per cent, j goes to amortise the loan The idea is to I

encourage labourers to remain on the^ land .instead of ■flocking- to' the cities, arid to • 'render them, more- contented and " happy.- J These man, called ,'", housemen," supply j labour on the larger farms or. estates, for I pact of their time, and during the remainder they cultivate their Own Httle lots: The scheme sprang out' of a desire- to cope wifii the increasing shortness of farm labour. Gan they- make such small holdings pay? I queried. *On good land they fcan r.un five or Ssix • .cows, and breed pigs and poultry. One ,vi«n — certainly an exceptional case— has b©4n known to' fatten 72 pigs!" _ .*' ■ §kmxi© of t'hess- f housemen" only .have gardens. In all, in the whole country, j tblre are 162,000 houses and lots. . The i number of small farmers and housemen in DeWiaifc is 234,741. .In passing, let me ado that as the qualification to vote is small and most of these men- possess this franchfse, the- agrarian factor in politics in D"&nmaTk pr-ctetically '* rules the roost." This cecounte for the predominance, and rightly so in this country, of -agrarian interests in all Government affairs, especially in matters of finance. You s3e this in the annual appropriations. Bach year th& Government offers a prize of a silver cup >U> ' the best -managed "houseman's" holding. Then other "housemen" can apply through the Royal Agricultural Society for permission to travel to these prize-taking places for educational ■ends, and they are told where to go and are assisted with their expenses. The ' mon-ay comes out of small annual grants I made by the Government, as aids " to farm j labourers' education." In the- course of several days' wanderings on a bicycle" through Denmark I came upon many cf ; thet>e small holdings. Generally the houses ! were of brick, neat in appearance and surroundings, and they peeped at you fro.n behind trim hedges and pretty gaixJens with lan air of happy contentment. .Many of the i nower cottages along tha roads appeared a<s the more modern evidences of fchax rap.d progress that dairying has ' made, and is making, in the country. In spito ot this successful experiment, however, Denmark rtill wants for labour, and numbers of Polish and Swedish gir 6 are annually imported ior the summer who arc employed principally on the larger estates. Tncse girls are of a rather 'low type, but do the- work required of of them. If they milk 20 cows three tiroes a day they get from • 250k to 300k a year (about £14 la 3d to £16 14s 6ci) and board and lodging— the latter rather inferior, I was given to understand. They ar£ not required to do a,:iy other work on the farm. Other women are also engaged, sometimes the wives and daughters- Oi housemen, and their pay will be ■by the ijay, as follows:— Twenty cows twice a day, from 60 to 80 ore (about "8d and' lOsI) ; 20 cows three times a day, 90 to 100 ore (about Is to Is 3d). Wages lists, j however, vary considerably, and it is imLpojsible to give exact figures. So far trade unionism has not entered the dairy . labour arena, but I was given to under-, stand that agitation to that end was in progress. ' - I aJso give the following wages of other farm employees, which were taken frotn a recent Government paper, but again emphasise the 'suggestion that there may be raanv exceptions to These tigures. They compare very favourably with European wages in general, though falling short of what is paid hi New Zealand:- Supervisor of a farm, from 400k to 600k (about £22 10s. to £35 15s) per year; working supervisor, from 300k to 400k (about £16 14s 6d to £22 10s); foreman, from 400k to 500k (about £22 10s to £28 2? 6d) ; hostler, 300k to 400k (about £16 14s 6d to £22 10s) ; feed masters 'of cows, who have control of the food supplies and decide what, food shall be given), from 300k to 500k (£l6 14s od to £28 2s 6d ; herdsmen (who clean the cows, water and feed end mind them), from 400k *o 600k (£22 103 to £33 15s). Most of these positions will exist only on the large estates, but the genera! remuneration even on the smaller places will bo about the same. New Zealand readers can very well make comparisons in wages, but in doing ?o must also survey the general disposal of the labour. They will remember, those of them who are familiar with farm life, the "cow spanker " who Miilks his morning and evening herd and fills in odd time cleaning cans, feeding caive-s and pigs, washing down the cow shed after milking, and doing a. few other odd jobs between 4 a.m. and 7 p.m.

It will be necessary to ghe further facts of the Danish sjstem to enable the distribution of labour to bo better understood. This will be done in a general description of a Danish farm and t.io method of working it-