Danish Agriculture.
During the past ten years, says Mr. Consul L. C. Liddell in his report for 1908, Denmark has witnessed a considerable increase.
The exports of agricultural produce, which in 1904 were worth £18,400,000, reached £22,400,000 in 1908. The amount of butter exported to the United Kingdom reaches 96.1 per cent. of the total; of bacon, 97.5 per cent.; and of eggs, 98.8 per cent. The remainder of the butter and bacon goes principally to Germany. Nearly the entire export of horses and cattle is absorbed by the German market, whilst three-fifths of the beef also finds its way thither, the remainder going to Norway.
The labour question has, as in other years, attracted much attention. The number of Swedish and Finnish labourers is decreasing, and it is from Galicia that Denmark would now appear to recruit her farm hands. The number of Galician "season" labourers in 1908 reached 8,000, or about 1,000 more than in 1907. The co-operative organisations approached the Prime Minister with the proposal that free passes should be granted on the State railway system to any unemployed at Copenhagen having a knowledge of field work to help in farming. This attempt to organise a "back to the land" movement is not expected to be attended with success.
These figures show an increase of nearly double in eleven years, or an increase of eight millions, and an increase of two millions from 1906 to 1907.
It must be remembered that the bulk of Danish produce comes to the Manchester market, and is distributed from that centre. An analysis of the 1907 imports from Denmark gives the following details:—Butter £10,192,587, eggs £1,774,319, fish £91,031, lard £17,723, bacon £5,385,275, pork £200,000. The item of bacon for 1907 shows an increase of one million pounds over the year 1906.
The import of Danish produce began in the early sixties of last century, and the quality was so indifferent that we are told it was fortunate if two casks of butter were good out of every five. Even then the quality was superior to Irish butter in its taste and appearance. The population of Denmark is two and a half millions, and the cultivated area of land is seven million acres. The yield of crops to the acre is 28 bushels of wheat, while in England it is 33 bushels. In barley the yield is 30 bushels to our 35 bushels, and in oats it is 33 bushels to our 42. These figures show the comparative fruitfulness of the land to be in favour of England. The live stock per 1,000 population in Denmark is 711 cattle to our 267, and pigs 563 to our 82. The total imports for twenty years show that our dairy produce from abroad has doubled, and is increasing at a rapid rate.
Comparisons of Danish methods of farming to-day cannot be made with the present conditions existing in Lancashire or Yorkshire, but can only be made by the modern conditions now obtaining in Essex under Lord Rayleigh.