Kraks Vejviser 1932 Handelsregister

21 Danish agricultural products. The national marks.

the type shown in Fig. 1. Two opposite staves in each of these casks are marked with the so-called Lur-brand. This consists of two pairs of the old Lur (wind) instru­ ments used by Danish warriors in the bronze age, to- gether with the words “Danish Butter“ and “Lur Brand" as shown in Fig. 2. Besides the Lur-brand the Lur-marked staves contain an indication of the net weight of the but-

The ameliorated Danish agricultural products: butter, bacon and eggs, form a very prominent part of the inter­ national trade in these goods. Denmark mav be said to supply about one third of the butter, one half of the bacon, and one tenth of the eggs appearing on the world market. The success of Danish agriculture in securing proportionally so large a part of the worlds market for these products is due primarily to the nnvarying uni- formity maintained in the prime quality of the Danish articles, and also to the faet that the goods invariably come on the market in a fresh condition and in pretty mueh the same quantities week by week 1he whole year round without any seasonal fluctuation worth speaking of. A so thorough standardization of the quality of the product and stabilization of the quantity produced has only been possible by virtue of the farmers individu- ally having aimed at running their farms with a view to attaining a definite output, the achievement of wliich has cost mueh effort, and necessitated the investment of considerable Capital. Another factor contribufing hereto is that they have collectively laboured persistently, through their technical and co-operative onganizations, to turn out a regular production øf sfandardized quality Products, under which Danish agriculture has always been guided by the principle that this work should take place on voluntary lines; this again means ihai what may be termed general educational work has always preceded and indeed formed the basis of the progress made. Only when there remained a small minority who had not voluntarily improved their production, was the government called upon, through the special agricultural organiza- tions, to introduce measures for compelling this minority to fali in line. The co-operation of the State has, however, also been desired for the reason that, particularly towards buyers abroad, it is of importance that the Danish State provides the outeome of the voluntary work with the official guarantee stamp. As a result of this, and in order to assist agriculture tn maintaining the quality and consistency of the export Products, the Danish State has established. through the Ministry of Agriculture, an effioient system for controlling the soundness and quality of the export products and their uniform packing, and has likewise laid down re- gulations for the uniform marking of the goods. BUTTER . In the year 1950 Denmark exported in all 5,527.000Cwts. butter. of which 5.290.000 Cwts. were packed in casks of

LUG BRAND

Fig 2.

ter shown in English Ibs. This weight is, as a rule, 112 Ibs. but may also be 84, 56 or 28 Ibs. A number on these staves, shown in red, similarly with the net weight — other marks being in black — is the number of the dairy which has produced the butter. All dairies producing butter for exportation have to be registered by the Mi- nistry of Agriculture, and the whole of the dairy pro­ duction has to be provided with the registration number assigned to the dairy. Finally every single dairy must show on all “Lur brand" staves the date on which the butter was made. In addition to the „Lur brand“ staves the National mark also appears on tlie so-called control labels, thin paper labels S k

placed direetly on the butter at the top and bot- tom of each cask. As will be seen from Fig. 3, there is on the control labels, besides the two „Lur- brand” marks, the date of ma- nufacture of

U H OAANO Dalo lor Tilvirkning Dhte ol production

G - 1103

Datum der Herstellung Date de la production

Fig.3.

the butter, and a constantly changing number for the same dairy. The control labels are sent to the dairies through the controlling authorities, and only the latter know the con- nexion between the fixed number of the dairy shown on the casks and the changing number on the control labelss. When these two numbers correspond the origin of the butter can be definitely established, and this arrange­ ment also affords an effeetive control of the correct application of the marks. The manufacture of all Lur-marked packing material is in the hånds of some few firms under contract with the Ministry of Agriculture, and no other firm is allowed to reproduce these marks. The production of the packing material is under strict control, and in each single case it is only delivered with the permission of the State supervisors, who, at the same time, fix the numbers with which the staves, control labels and Lur marked packing paper, are to be provided. The Lur-brand is more­ over registered as a protected trade mark in most foreign countries, including, of, course, all countries who are im- portant buyers of Danish butter. *• In order to obtain permission to use the Lur-brand it is necessary that the dairy in question is notified as such to the police authorities. The dairy is then subject to State control, receives the Lur-brand packing materials and is thereby authorized to produce butter for exportation.

Fig. 1.