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The Netherlands: Denmark

About midway between the two extremes of the general western configuration of the Continent of Europe, and standing in its peninsula form like a barrier between the North and the Baltic Seas, is what remains of the once powerful but now narrowlimited kingdom of Denmark. Geographically it extends, including its cluster of islands from 54° 30' to 57° 44′ N. lat., and from 8° 4' to 12° 34′ E. long.; not taking into account the island of Bornholm, which is farther to the E. The kingdom has the Skager Rack as its N. water boundary, the Cattegat, the Sound, and the Baltic as its E., while at the S. are the Baltic, the Little Belt, and the German Duchy of Schleswig, while on the W. is the North Sea. While the W. coast of Denmark is low, sandy and inhospitable, that side of the mainland or Jutland, being a succession of sand ridges and shallow lagoons, very dangerous to shipping, the E. coast affords several excellent havens, especially amongst the islands. The surface of Denmark is not low, in the sense that is characteristic of Holland, yet it presents a naturally depressed configuration, and nowhere in the entire kingdom do we find an elevation exceeding 530 ft. That is at Himmelbjerget, in Jutland. The general tend of the surface is downward from the coast line, and the mainland presents a sort of natural basin. Of course in a country like this a river system cannot exist, and we find that the longest of the Danish streams dignified with the name of river, the Guden, is little more than a brook. The area of Denmark is 14,782 sq. m. Population in 1888, 2,130,100. This does not include Faroe, Iceland, Greenland, and the West India islands belonging to Denmark, which contain 74,201 sq. m. The kingdom is pre-eminently an agricultural country, and considering the size of Denmark, it stands third in point of agricultural production. The people are industrious and thrifty. The crops include oats, barley, wheat, rye, buckwheat, beans, potatoes, apples, pears, plums, apricots, gooseberries, raspberries, and currants. About 70 per cent. of the country is under some sort of crop. Barley is the principal cereal. The great features of Danish agriculture are cattle breeding and dairy husbandry. The value of butter exported has reached in a single year as high as $8,000,000. Cheese is largely manufactured. The laws of Denmark encourage the parcelling out of landed property, and prohibit the union of small farms. The estates of nobles are generally rented on the tenant system, but the greater portion of the land is possessed by the peasantry. Manufactures are unimportant, the most notable being porcelain. There was a time when the commerce of Denmark was so completely restrictive that all goods received in that country were sold at auction upon the wharves, and the proceeds, less the customs duties, paid over to the original importers. But within the present century commercial treaties with various European countries have been consummated, more regular and liberal tariffs enacted, the Sound tolls-formerly levied on every vessel that entered the Baltic Sea-have been abolished, and Denmark has rapidly advanced in her intercourse with the world. Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, and Norway enjoy the great volume of Danish commerce, and the principal ports are Copenhagen, Helsingör (Elsinore, made famous in Hamlet), Korsör, or Corsoer, Aalborg, Aarhuus, and Frëderikshavn.