20 ON THE AGRICULTUEE OF 



Fleming, Castleton, Carmunnock ; Mr Brown, Cartlebiirn, Kil- 

 winning; and Mr Howie, Burnhouses. These were all good 

 breeding sires, but the Cartleburn bull effected the greatest im- 

 provement in the breed. 



As these dairies touched upon, are, with Balichrach, the most 

 extensive in the island, the details of the way in which their 

 quality has been maintained may serve as an indication of the 

 general method of breeding Ayrshires followed in Bute. Queys are 

 seldom or never bought in, but bulls almost invariably are. The 

 quey calves are all kept to keep up the herds, but the bull calves,, 

 unless very promising, are sold as unfed veal to the butchers. 

 As a rule the aged cows are not kept after they are ten years of 

 age unless they have proved themselves to be extra valuable as 

 breeders. Cows which calve in autumn sell at about £15 per 

 head ; those calving in spring draw from £12 to £14 



The produce of the Bute dairies is either sold as sweet milk 

 or manufactured into fresh butter, for both of which there is an 

 abundant demand in Eothesay, Port-Bannatyne, and Ascog. A 

 good deal of fresh butter is also sent out of the island. A boat 

 crosses from Kilchattan Bay to Millport with supplies of butter, 

 and quantities are also sent to Dunoon. When the dairy trade 

 began at first to develop itself in 1810, the milk was all sold 

 skimmed ; after a time a demand arose for mixed " skim " and 

 " sweet " milk, and again butter milk was in favour ; but for 

 many years sweet milk has been exclusively in demand. Cheese 

 was somewhat extensively manufactured in former times. The 

 writer of the '' Statistical Account," in 1840, tells us that the 

 " cheese then made was equal to the best Dunlop," but this 

 remark does not now hold good. Bowing establishments are 

 very rare ; the farmers generally sell the produce of their dairies 

 without the intervention of any middle party, as by this means 

 they receive about 2d. a pound more for their butter than they 

 would by selling it wholesale to merchants in Eothesay. The 

 first farmers who sold milk fi'om carts in the streets of Eothesay,. 

 were Mr John Currie, then in Ardbeg, and Mr Thomas Stevenson, 

 Ardmalish. Fresh butter sells out of Eothesay at about Is. 5d. per 

 lb. on an average, and fresh country eggs, sent from Bute at about 

 Is. per dozen. In Eothesay the consumer can purchase butter 

 produced by the Bute dairies at about 3d. a lb. less than he 

 would pay in Dunoon or Helensburgh, as the supply in the island 

 exceeds the demand. 



The price of sweet milk, wholesale, is about 4d. per imperial 

 pint ; of fresh butter, wholesale, about Is. 2d. per lb., retail, Is. 4d.. 

 to Is. 6d. 



As there is not a market for all the butter milk churned in 

 the island, for the last twenty years it has been usual for many of 

 the farmers to make the sour milk into a curd for dve, which is 



