Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1914 — 20 ACRES SUPPORTS FAMILY. [ARTICLE]

20 ACRES SUPPORTS FAMILY.

American Minister Praises Denmark’s Farming. 1 New York, April 16.—‘‘If intensive farming, coupled with co-oper-ation, could be carried on in any state of the union with half the scientific application of the Danes, there would be no such problem in this country today as the high cost of living,” said Dr. Maurice Francis Egan, American Minister to Denmark, who is in New York for a few days. i ‘‘By co-operation the Danes have brought under control the exorbitant demands of the middlemen. The climate of Denmark is the worst in the whole of Europe, and the soil of the country is by nature admittedly the worst, and yet those disadvantages, given them by nature, the Danish farmers have solved by tackling their problem scientifically. “I venture to say, that if the abandoned farms in Massachusetts alone could be put under the direction of competent Danes, they could be made to yield food enough to supply the whole of New England. “The farms in certain sections of the east are exhausted because the farmers themselves have exhausted them. B'Ut it can be restored. That has been done in Denmark. In 1848 the soil of that country had been exhausted by overcultivation of wheat.

‘‘But so well have the farmer come to understand their work that Denmark, though small, has become a great agricultural country. Conditions over therei afejw excellent. The demand for bacon, butter and eggs in England can hardly be supplied, and the market for Danish bacon in Germany has increased enormously.’ ‘‘Nowhere else have the possibilities of the small farmer been developed as in Denmark. The tendency over there is to cut up the great estates into small tracts and work these intensively. In Denmark a family can make a very good living out of twenty acres. These would be devoted to raising cows and peas, and perhaps some chickens. There would probably be half a dozen cows. You see, there are only fourteen weeks when cows feed in the open, and on the place quantities of sugar beets and mangel wurtzel— big beets—are raised. Then the farmers import through corporations the very best fertilizers ’ at low prices., such as, if bought ny ,them as individuals, would cost a .great deal of money. ‘ One of the beauties about Denmark is that great land syndicates are impossible. Everybody believes that the soil exists for the subsistence of the individual and for his comfort, and public opinion is against large holdings. ‘‘However, in spite of Denmark being agricultural, Copenhagen has grown entirely too large for the rest of the country, and the cities are expanding at the expense of the agricultural districts, though not at a rate which affects production. Beggars are few, and everything is done to care for the poor. The simplicity of national life is against display, and wealth is very well distributed. In Denmark the wealth per capita is greater than in any other country in the world.”