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 AMERICAN DAIRYING.]

DAIRY-FARMING

were not separately distinguished before 1888. In that year they amounted to 352,332 cwt. The quantities imported in subsequent years were the following :— Year. 1889 . 1890 . 1891 . 1892.

Cwt. 339,892 407,426 444,666 481,374

Year. 1893 1894 1895 1896

. . ..

Cwt. 501,005 529,465 545,394 611,335

Year. 1897 . 1898 . 1899 . 1900.

Cwt. 756,243 817,274 824,599 986,741

The quantity thus increased continuously in each year after 1889, with the result that in 1900 the imports had grown to nearly three times the amount of those in 1889. Simultaneously, over the period 1889-1900 the annual value of the imports steadily advanced from £704,849 to £1,405,033. Thus, while the imports of condensed milk trebled in quantity, they doubled in value. A fair proportion is, however, exported, as is shown in the following statement of exports of imported condensed milk for the four years 1897 to 1900 :— 1897. 1898. 1899. 1900. Quantity,. cwt. 143,932 133,596 118,394 164,602 Value . . £274,578 £256,525 £228,446 £309,460 There is also an export trade in condensed milk made in the United Kingdom. Thus, in 1892 the exports of home-made condensed milk amounted to 61,442 cwt., valued £tt £133,556. By 1896 the quantity had almost doubled, and reached 111,959 cwt., of the value of £224,831. In subsequent years the exports were :— 1897. 1898. 1899. 1900. Quantity,. cwt. 154,901 178,055 185,749 209,447 Value . . £302,748 £343,070 £353,819 £390,559 Milk and cream (fresh or preserved other than condensed) received no separate classification in the imports until 1894, in which year the quantity imported was 161,633 gallons, followed by 126,995 gallons in 1895, and 22,776 gallons in 1896. The quantities have since been returned by weight—10,006 cwt. in 1897, 10,691 cwt. in 1898, 7859 cwt. in 1899, and 15,638 cwt. in 1900. The values of these imports in the successive years 1894 to 1900 were £21,371, £19,991, £5489, £9848, £11,293, £16,068, and £26,837. The total values of the imports of dairy produce of all kinds—butter, margarine, cheese, &c.—into the United Kingdom were, at five-year intervals between 1875 and 1890, the following :— 1875. 1880. 1885. 1890. Value. £13,211,592 £17,232,548 £15,632,852 £19,505,798 The values in each year of the closing decade of the 19th century are set forth in Table XVII., where Table XVII. Values of Dairy Products imported into the United Kingdom from 1891 to 1900, in Thousands of Pounds Sterling. Year. 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900

Butter.

Margarine.

Cheese.

Condensed Milk.

Total.

£1000. 11,591 11,965 12,754 13,457 14,245 15,344 15,917 15,962 17,214 17,450

£1000. 3558 3713 3655 3045 2557 2498 2485 2384 2549 2465

£1000. 4813 5417 5161 5475 4675 4900 5886 4970 5503 6838

£1000. 900 930 1010 1079 1084 1170 1398 1436 1455 1743

£1000. 20,863 22,025 22.580 23,077 22.581 23,920 25,715 24,779 26,747 28,544

367

the totals in the last column include small sums for margarine-cheese and, since 1893, for fresh milk and cream. The aggregate value more than doubled during the last quarter of the century. The earliest year for which the value of imported butter is separately available is 1886, when it amounted to £8,141,438. Thirteen years later this sum had more than doubled, and it is an impressive fact that in the closing year of the century the United Kingdom should have expended on imported butter alone a sum closely approximating to 171? million pounds sterling, equivalent to about three-fourths of the total amount disbursed on imported wheat grain.1 The imports of margarine—that is, of margarine specifically declared to be such—into the United Kingdom are derived almost entirely from Holland. Out of a total of 920,416 cwt. imported in 1900 Holland supplied 862,154 cwt., and out of £2,464,839 expended on imported margarine in the same year Holland received £2,295,174. To the imports in the year named Holland contributed 93-7 per cent.; France, 2’9 ; Norway, 0’9; all other countries, 2 -5; so that Holland possesses almost a monopoly of this trade. The quantities of imported butter, margarine, and cheese that are again exported from the United Kingdom are trivial when compared with the imports, as will be seen from the following quantities and values in the three years 1898 to 1900 :— 1900.

1898.

1899.

1900.

Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. £ £ £ 63,491 50,453 51,583 319,806 257,999 258,931 Butter Margarine 10,023 13,139 11,326 24,721 33,319 27,882 Cheese. 56,694 56,390 55,982 159,210 163,991 168,369 There is also a very small export trade in butter and cheese made in the United Kingdom, but its insignificant character is evident from the subjoined details as to quantities and values for the years named :— 1898. Butter Cheese

1899.

1900.

Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. £ £ £ 11,359 9936 10,127 59,731 53,195 53,701 10,126 9758 9,356 36,803 35,890 36,691 American Dairying.

The development of the dairying industry in the vast region of the United States of America has been described in the official Year-Book by Major Henry E. Alvord, chief of the dairy division of the Bureau of Animal Industry in the Department of Agriculture at Washington. The beginning of the 20th century found the industry upon an altogether higher level than seemed possible a few decades earlier. The milch cow herself, upon which the whole business rests, has become almost as much a machine as a natural product, and a very different creature from the average animal of bygone days. The few homely and inconvenient implements for use in the laborious duties of the dairy have been replaced by perfected appliances, skilfully devised to accomplished their object and to lighten labour. Long rows of shining metal pans no longer adorn rural dooryards. The factory system of co-operative or concentrated manufacture has so far taken the place of home dairying that in entire states the cheese vat or press is as rare as the handloom, and in many counties it 1 In 1901 the United Kingdom imported 3,702,810 cwt. of butter, valued at £19,297,005, both totals being the largest on record.