THE FIRST HOMELAND.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 1, 11 December 1911, Page 8

THE FIRST HOMELAND.

THE DANISH PEOPLE. A RACE WHICH TOOK STEPS. (“Sydney Morning Herald” London Correspondent.) In ISG-1 the Danes were smashed by Germany, tho duchies of Slesvik (Schleswig) and Holstein were taken away from them, and Denmark was left at one blow shorn of one-third of her area, and a great part of her Danish-speaking people—from that day tho little homeland of the English name, Angelin, has been in Germany and not in Denmark. But tho Danes, luckily, had a very high standard of education. It is doubtful if any nation then had, or now has, a standard of general education as high as that of Denmark. 'They appear even to teach English and German in tho elementary schools, at any rate in some grades of them. Education had been universal there for sixty years before the war, and no doubt this helped them to recover from the disaster. Anyhow, hero are the steps they took:— They had a very small country left to them after the war-only 15,500 ; square miles of it, and a fair part of that apparently useless clay heath land. 'They started reclaiming this heath land, partly by planting pine and Jir on it, and partly by other means. And, by dint of working out the most complete system of co-operation that exists anywhere, they made their small country within a few years not only tho first dairying country, but the country in which the actual farmer and farm worker generally obtain more nearly the whole value of their products than they do in any country in the world. Of co-operative dairies alone they have now more than 1057, with some 150,000 members. Seventy per cent of the cows in the country are owned by mein Iters of those cooperative dairies. And dairying is only one branch of the co-operation in Denmark. They have co-operative societies to sell their butter for them, and return them the full profit; they have thirty co-operative bacon factories ; they effect their insurances

through a co-operative association of hacon-curers j they export eggs through hacon-curers; they export eggs through co-operative societies, which are now all affiliated to a big central co-operative egg-export society, which grades and packs the eggs sent in to it fixes the price, sells tho_ eggs, and sends hack the result to the farmer, after taking off working expenses. Iho farmers buy their agricultural machinery through co-operative buying societies ; the bee-keepers have co-op-erative societies for their business] so do the poultry growers and stock breeders. Much more than half the total exports of Denmark comes through the co-operative societies. The consequence is that the wealth of Denmark is distributed very evenly. Five-sixths of the land there is held by small holders, and the law forbids tiio small farms absorbed again into large estates. Tho middleman is largely done away with, uul so the'£22,567,000 that Denmark was paid for her agricultural exports in 1009 was divided with very little deduction amongst a great number ol small producers. Australia sent to England 667,980 cwt of butter during last year. Denmark sent 1,726,091 cwt. It is said In London that Australian butter is shipped to Denmark and re-exported there as Danish. It is possible that this has been done in a few small consignments by dishonest middlemen, but the quantities are probably insignificant, because tho Danish law provides stiff penalties for such a proceeding. However, Danish butter has i reputation worth coveting. n That reputation, also, is not the result ' of incident but of downright scientific calculation. 1 ! (There are twenty-one igriciiltural and horticultural schools in Denmark’besides the veterinary and agricultural college in Copenhagen. How the Danes Do It. [f possible Danish milk is even bettor than Danish butter. By the kindness of some of this most obliging of people; I looked over a Copenhagen milk depot—that of the Copenhagen Milk Supply Company—to find out iow they came by that milk. _ The system was so excellent that it is worth giving in a little detail. These are the precautions that this private Company —not the Government —takes before delivering its milk to the profiteer. It chooses tho farms from which it will receive tho milk. From that time forth the company’s own veterinary surgeon visits each farm twice every month, and examines each individual 10 w. If any cow is suspected of being unhealthy tho surgeon has it removed, and on each visit ho has to ill in and forward a scheduled form dating tho condition of the cows and other matetrs. Twice in each year the ompany’s dairy expert—a lady—pays i surprise visit to each farm, and days a day there to see for herself .hat they understand scientific cleanliicss in milking, in using the Ulander ilter, and cooling the milk—and she ms to forward a detailed report on specified questions. Every cow has irst bean subjected to the tuberculin est, and during the winter, when the lows in-. Wiese countries have to ho iioused, the hair on tho udders, loins, ind tails is clipped,, so as to help tho work of keeping' the cows clean. All fhesp precautions are taken by the nilk supply company in regard to tire .wows before even you begin to touch m tho milk itself.' ''''A£ .' l : <■■■ The. .precautions Liken with the acual milk, are aimed' : at keeping it free from harmful bacteria from the worn out it leaves the udder to the raoaent when it is drunk. As an article n a Danish newspaper said—“expectj'ration from ‘a'consumptive workman a a carelessly-conducted cowhouse is 'tarried by a draught of air to an open jail or can; a year or two later a child lies of intestinal tuberculosis.” That is just as much cause and effect, the 'paper says, as the fall of a man after he discharge of/'a 1 ifiufderer’A pistol. It, the same Jliiie tlJeT'do riot believe in, boiling or", pasteurising milk. “He who pasteurises good milk,” they say, s a fool j; and he tvho pasteurises bad nilk ,is a'rogue.” The Danish meiliocl now is to try by scrupulous cleaniness to ensure no harmful bacteria caching’ the milk. For this reason nilking in tlie cowhouse is being abjlished. ' In summer the cows are milked put in the green fields. _ In winter—at any rate, on the specially selected,,farms which are chosen for ‘children’s milk”—they are milked in a special room, in which the brushing and cleaning of the cow takes place. The milkmaid before milking juts on a special clean dress, washes her hands, wipes the udder with a damp cloth, \and then milks the first two or three jots into a separate pail, which is kept for use about the farm. Then she begins to milk the pail for Copenhagen. The Milking. The pail into which the cow is milk-, dis not an ordinary milk pail. It has a large pear-shaped copper knob, projecting from tho bottom of it into ho can. That knob is really hollow, and can he filled from the ont,ide of the can with, crushed ice and malt.' The'jet of milk falls upon the jutside of this knob, and immediately becomes .reduced in temperature—eventually to about 41 degrees Fahrenheit. : H the bacteria in the milk are not killed by; this at any rate they cannot develop at the great rate at which they increase in warm milk; ind therefore tho whole endeavour in Denmark is to get the milk from the cow teethe consumer without its temperature ever having been raised, if possible, much above '4l degrees. The Danes know well enough that their practice is different from the English ind- American. In a newspaper article we saw stress laid on the great importance of all milk in Copenhagen jcing delivered at a very low temperature “in contrast to the common oractice in America and England of delivering it warm, in which case it naturally deteriorates quickly.” The writer explains that the good quality of Copenhagen milk is the reason why the consumption per head in Copenhagen is a pint a day and increasing, whereas in Manchester : t is only a quarter of a pint. When thb cow lias been milked into boo patent pail, that pail is not sent off to. tho city. The milk is poured from it through a milk filter into a largo can, which stands in a tank

surrounded by ice until tlio moment when it lias to be sent to the railway. In the case of the milk specially selected for children, as soon as it reaches the Copenhagen depot each can is weighed, and examined by persons specially trained—they have to find its temperature, taste it, and take samples to find the percentage of fat. The milk is then bottled, and every bottle sealed. ft is delivered to the houses in bottles. The bottles are carted round packed in ice, and ire collected later. Such milk as is not delivered in bottles is sent round an the carts in specially constructed tanks, so made that the milk cannot bo got at to be watered—the tank is sealed, and the customer knows that, in whatever condition the milk flows From the tat), in that condition it was pub into the tank at the factory. The consequence of it all is that the milk you get in Copenhagen is an eye-opener in what milk can be. In Sweden and Norway, which of course are in close touch with Denmark, the milk is also often delivered in bottles, and is almost equally glpod. The

milk in Copenhagen is sold in many different forms—infants’ milk (i.e., mixed with the proportions of water and sugar which are scientifically correct), children's milk, butter'milk, and so on. The richest milk o; all, children's milk, is sold at loss than 2jd a quart, and the people seem to lie sufficiently educated to buy it in spite of other milk being a little cheaper.