The gazette-times., July 16, 1914, HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION, Page 16, Image 22

HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
Agricultural Prosperity in Denmark
Being an Analysis of H. Rider Haggard's Great Agricultural
Work on "Rural Denmark and Its Lessons."
BY IBA A. KIDDER, LIBRARIAN,
Oregon Agriculture College.
AMONG the recent books of interest
to farmers is Haggard's "Rural
Denmark and Its Lessons." It
shows how, by a proper system of farm
ing and general cooperation, they have
triumphed over the difficulties of soil
and climate and low prices, until from
a nation on the verge of ruin they have
become one of the most prosperous of
the agricultural nations. Their cooper
ation is of the most practical kind,
and every advantage is taken of mar
ket conditions. In their cooperative
dairies, the collection of the milk is
made by the dairy, that is, the individ
ual farmer does not bring in his own
milk as in most of our cooperative dair
ies. Except for one day a week, in
many of the large dairies no butter is
made, the cream being exported to Ger
many, where there is a duty on butter
but not on cream.
Starting Dairies.
In starting iheir dairies the necessary
capital is borrowed and guaranteed by
the local farmers in proportion to tho
amount of milk to be supplied by each
of them. As the failure of a cooperat
ive dairy factory is almost unheard of,
this guaranty is not a source of anxioty
to the guarantor. The milk is tested
onee a week by experts, and if a farm
er's milk is below the test he is warned,
and if the deficiency continues he is
dropped, but this very rarely happens.
Many of the dairy farmers milk three
times a day, as it is said the increase
in quantity of milk obtained more than
compensates for the extra labor. The
farmers in a neighborhood hire cooper
atively a highly educated, expert wom
an, who vista them once a fortnight to
test the milk for bntter fat, and pre
scribes the proper amount of food for
the cows. The milking on many dairy
farms is done by machines and the
"stripping" by hand.
An Unusual School
In Denmark they have a rather un
usual kind of high chool, which helps
to account for the high percentage of
education in Denmark. This school is
nearly self supporting, that is, it re
ceives very little government aid, and
has some private capital, but its chief
support is the tuition of the students.
These are young men and women of
from seventeen to twenty-five years of
age, who pay for the six months Bession
$75.00 tuition and fees.. The school is
in session for six months for the winter
term, which is largely attended, and
for three months in summer, which is
attended anually by a small number of
very young women. This term of six
months permits young people to work
half the year to pay for tho schooling
the other half. There are no examina
tions, and no degrees which open doors
to a career. They go to school for
learning, and for learning only, and
the surprising thing is that ten per
cent of the population go through these
high schools. It is no uncommon thing
in Denmark to find a farm hand that
speaks French and German, and reads
English. Another partial cause of the
high state of education 'a Denmark is
the fact that books are sent out post
age free from several of the large li
braries. Denmark has also an interesting sys
tem of schools for farmers, especially
the small land holders. There is a
summer and a winter session of six
months each. The pupils are admitted
without examination, at any age above
eighteen years. It costs a little over
$11.00 a month. This covers instruc
tion, board and washing. Thcso schools
are very popular, and attended often
by persons of advanced age.
Acquiring Small Farms.
The Danish system of acquiring small
farms by tate aid is interesting, but
is still in the experimental ago. The
system is as follows: The farmers are
allowed to borrow of the state nine
tenths of the value of the small farm
to be purchased, the farmer being in
possession of the remaining one-ten A
before he makes application for state
aid. He pays three percent interest
for the first five years. Af'er that
he pays four per cent btercst to the
state. At first three per cent of this
is interest and one per cent goes to the
liquidation of his debt, but as the debt
decrease the amtwut paid for interest
decreases, and the amount for payment
increases so that the debt to the state
is liquidated in 98 years. One of the
arguments against the success of the
system as practiced at present is that
the sale of land is not compulsory, and
the land owners charge more than the
value of the land. The purchaser being
eager to secure a holding, and getting
tho money on such easy terms from the
state, purchases at this inflated price.
The second argument is that the state
receives only three per cent interest,
but cannot itself borrow at less than
three and a quarter to three and a half
per cent, and the loss comes out of the
taxpayers for the benefit of a single
class. It is generally felt that one
tenth is too small a proportion for the
small holder to have in his possession
at the start, and does not give him suf
ficient to stock his farm and stand the
stress of accident.
Cooperative Societies.
The Danish farmers buy and sell en
tirely through cooperative societies.
Without these they say it would be
impossible to get along successfully.
Donmark has a system of credit
unions or banks, which are private co
operative institutions, and are not guar
anteed, though carefully inspected, by
the government. The interest paid on
loans is from three to four and a half
per cent. The sinking fund, as a rule,
is one per cent.. These unions or banks
are vory successful.
In closing his book Mr. Haggard
shows that the agricultural prosperity
of Denmark depends upon tnree things:
first, their having turned from grain
farming, for which their country is ill
fitted, to dairy and pig farming; sec
ond, their almost universal system of
cooperation, loth in baying and selling;
and third, their system of small land
holdings, under which ninety per cent
of the farmers own their own farms.
Mr. Haggard is an English farmer,
farming 500 acres, 250 of which ho
owns, 250 of which he rents. His com
parisons throughout the book are with
English conditions. It would be exceed
ingly interesting if we could have such
a compartive study of Denmark and the
United States. However, this book
brings to the American farmer many
most suggestive ideas concerning really
productive agriculture. It is well worth
purchasing.
France has 20,994 mutual benefit so
cieties with an aggregate membership of
5,040,735 and annual receipts of $13,-000,000.
I SHALL BE WOKTHT.
I may not reac. the height! f seek;
My untried strength may fail me
Or halfway p the mouatai peak
Fierce tempests may assail Die;
But, thongh my goal I never aee,
This thought shal always dwell with
I will be worthy of it.
I may not trinmph In success
Despite my earnest labo
I may not grasp results that bleat
Tho efforts of my neighbor;
But, though life's dearest joy I miss,
There lies a nameless strength in this
I will be worthy of it.
Ella Wheeler Wileox.
GOLDEN EGOS.
I wish I owned the falbled goose
Which laid an egg of gold,
A shining nugget eve.y day,
To make her master glsd and gay.
For if I did I'n not turn loose
On tier my axman bold.
Instead I'd christen her "Macduff"
And quote her Mr. Sliakespeare'a stuff.
And when she would "lay on" to praise
And pet her I would seek.
And I would gather every day
And treasure up her golden lay.
And at the end of each four days
(Or maybe every week)
I'd trado her product for one treat
One fresh laid chicken egg to eat.
, Kanaas City Star.
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