The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-02-25

equally good, and. in short. operating
as though the whole country were a
single big farm.
Nation of Farmers
The Danes have often been called a
nation of farmers. Their little coun-
try is divided up into quarter of
a million farms, or one farm for
every IL persons. If the United States
were apportioned according to its
area in the same ratio, 1t would have
about fifty million farmsl instead
of little more than six million as
now.
Here in Denmark the farms are all
small OF the whole 250,000, there
are only 500 which exceed $40 acres
and of the remainder all but 5000
range from an acre and a half to a
quarter section. There are more than
oha hundred ana thirty thousand
farms OF less than twelve acres, and
more than fifty thousand which
range from twelve acres to forty.
There are 5000 between forty AMI
one hundred and fifty acres, and the
average size of the holdings en-
braced In one million acres is only
twenty three acres. while five million
acres are so divided that the average
owner has only seventy-three acres.
1nOSE ldEISf Lar sc anu Sllieiif etI0
scattered all over the country.
q O O
Ten Acres Enough
Nine out of every ten farms in Dem
mark are owned and operated by the
men who live on them, and most of
the owners have no other means of
support. There are seventy thousand
holdings of less than two acres. and
l have seen statements that a man
III O.,
three or four acres. This l believe
to be a mistake. My information
from the government officials and
from farmers. large and small, is that
he needs two or three times this
amount of land; but all agree that
ten acres is quite enough to enable
a man to make a decent living and
educate his children. They say that
the farmer who has thirty acres in
we'll do, while one who has from
fifty to one hundred may be called
almost rich. The men who live on
the very small holdings, say of two
acres. thrive by raising several COWS,
. dozen pigs and a good flock of
chickens, but they must work also
for their eneighbors.
o O o
The Men Who Run Denmark.
More than half OF the farms are Of
less than Is acres and they comprise
about three-fifths of the land. There
are more than a hundred thousand
farms which range between 10 acres
and $50 acres, and the owners of
these might be called the backbone
of the country. Most OF them ate
scientific agriculturists. They know
all about plants and plant breeding.
They are skilled mechanics and often
good chemists. Many of them are
graduates of agricultural schools, and
socilly nd politely they are of
higher grade perhaps than any other
farmers on earth.
They are usually men of some
means. They are interested in the
savings and credit associations and
to a large extent run the co-opera-
tive societies. They control the poi
itics of the section in which they live,
and they are the predominant influ-
ence in congress and the govern
ment. It is through them that the
railroads are operated in the interest
of the farmers. not to make money.
but to haul passengers and freight
as cheaply as possible. 1t is through
them that the land has been broken
up into small holdings, that credit
banks have been established, that
only two in one thousand of the peo-
pie cannot read and write and that
most of the homes. even out in the
country, have telephones and electric
lights.
Every Farm a Factory
But the Danes are moro than a ma
ton of ordinary farmers. They are
a nation of factory owners and fac.
tory workers. Every farm is fac
tory and its owner is engaged in pro-
ducing bacon and butter and eggs to
sell. The climate and soil are such
that only small part of the feed of
the live stock can be raised upon it.
For five months of every year the
cattle can be grazed in the fields, and
for the other seven they must be kept
in the barns and STALL fed. The coun-
try is so thickly settled that there is
not enough land to raise hay or grain
for the animals, and a great part of
the feed is brought in from the
Every week ships from New York
bring grain, and especially corn and
cotton seed meal cakes, as food for
to be tank-food, bonedust and other
articles which lead to the production
of eggs. Every farmer knows the
feeding value of all he buys, while
through the cooperative associations
the purchases are made at wholesale
prices and so distributed that the
farmes practically eliminate the mid
die man and have all the profits
themselves.
Cooperative Selling
1t is the same with the selling.
There are cooperative egg societies.