Butter-making is an interesting sight at the splendidly equipped steam-factories, and we all know that Danish butter is renowned for its excellence. When the milk is weighed and tested it runs into a large receiver, thence to the separator; from there the cream flows into the scalder, and pours over the ice frame in a rich cool stream into a wooden vat.
Meanwhile the separated milk has returned through a pipe to the waiting milk-cans and is given back to the farmer, who utilizes it to feed his calves and pigs. The cream leaves the vat for the churn through a wooden channel, and when full the churn is set in motion. This combined churn and butter-worker completes the process of butter-making, and when the golden mass is taken out it is ready to be packed for the English market. The milk, on being received at the factory, is weighed and paid for according to weight. It takes 25 lbs. of milk to make 1 lb. of butter.
"Hedeselskabet" (Heath Company) is a wonderful society started by Captain Dalgas and other patriotic Danes, in 1866, for the purpose of reclaiming the moors and bogs. The cultivation of these lands seemed impossible to most people, but these few enthusiasts with great energy and perseverance set to work to overcome Nature's obstacles. These pioneers have been so successful in their efforts that in less than half a century three thousand square miles of useless land in Jutland have been made fertile. Trees have been planted and carefully nursed into good plantations, besides many other improvements made for the benefit of the agriculturalist and the country generally. All along the sandy wastes of the west coast of Jutland esparto grass has been sown to bind the shifting sand, which is a danger to the crops when the terrible "Skaj"[8] blows across the land with unbroken force. Thanks to the untiring energies of this society for reclaiming the moors, Denmark has gained land almost equal to that she lost in her beautiful province of Schleswig, annexed by Prussia in the unequal war of 1864.
In the town of Aarhus, the capital of Jutland, a handsome monument has been raised to the memory of Captain Dalgas, the father of the movement for reclaiming the moors, by his grateful countrymen.
[CHAPTER XI]
[SOLDIERS AND SAILORS]
Every Danish boy knows he must undergo a period of training as a soldier or sailor when he reaches his twentieth year. This is because Denmark is small and poor, and could not maintain a standing army, so her citizens must be able to defend her when called upon. This service is required from all, noble and peasant alike, physical weakness alone bringing exemption. This six or twelve months' training means a hard rough time for young men accustomed to a refined home, but it has a pleasant side in the sympathy and friendship of comrades. The generality of conscripts do not love their soldiering days, and look upon them as something to be got over, like the measles! "Jens" is the Danish equivalent for "Tommy Atkins," and "Hans" is the "Jack Tar" of Denmark.
To see the daily parade of Life Guards before the royal palace is to see a splendid military display. This parade the King and young Princes often watch from the palace windows. The crowd gathers to enjoy the spectacle of "Vagt-Paraden" (changing the guard) in the palace square, when the standard is taken from the Guard House and borne, to the stirring strains of the "Fane-Marsch," in front of the palace. As the standard-bearer marches he throws forward his legs from the hips in the most curious stiff way. This old elaborate German step is a striking feature of the daily parade. When the guard is changed and the band has played a selection of music, the same ceremony is repeated, and the standard deposited again in its resting-place. Then the released guard, headed by the band playing merry tunes, march back to their barracks followed by an enthusiastic crowd. The fresh guard take their place beside the sentry-boxes, which stand around the palace square. These are tall red pillar-boxes curiously like giant letter-boxes!