The utilisation of the heath becomes a national cause

1866 - 1893

The extensive spread of the Danish heaths by the turn of the nineteenth century was primarily the result of heavy felling and agricultural cultivation with resulting impoverishment of the soil during the Middle Ages and subsequent centuries.

The first hesitant initiatives with regard to the reclamation of heathland and planting on the heaths occurred during the 18th century. When DDH was founded on 28 March 1866 at Hotel Royal in Århus, the reclamation of heathland was thus already in progress.

DDH ’s great success was to put the utilisation of the heaths on the national agenda in Denmark. The groundswell of support was due in no small part to the foresight, energy and competence of the company’s three pioneers and its first board of directors: the company’s front figure and managing director Enrico Mylius Dalgas, landowner and chairman of the board Ferdinand Mourier-Petersen and senior attorney Georg Morville.

DDH ’s strategy following its foundation was to create the framework and conditions for heath reclamation. The company therefore focused on the performance of analyses of the geological conditions on the heath and on taking initiatives with respect to meadow migration and the establishment of plantations and shelter belt plants.