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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



THE IRISH BUTTER TRADE. 



The importance of tlie Irish butter trade cannot be over- 

 rated. It is the sheet anchor of the farmer there— his all- 

 in-all— the means of paying his rent and charges, defraying 

 the cost of labour, and maiutaining his family. In fact, 

 the butter is his bank. Setting so high a value upon 

 national manufacture, we were the more pained at some re- 

 cent revelations in the great staple of the trade— the city of 

 Cork. A very injurious practice, not only to the Cork 

 market, but to the butter producers of Ireland, was detected, 

 exposed, and, we trust, repressed before any real mischief 

 had been done. The facilities for perpetrating the frauds, 

 60 opportunely discovered by the weigh-house committee, 

 were ao great, that it ia a matter of congratulation they 

 were not turned to more frequent account, and thus in- 

 flicted irreparable injury to the butter trade in the south. 

 The rarity of the practice speaks well for the general in- 

 tegrity of the dealers, who kno.v well that the frequency of 

 such frauds would bring ruiu on the trade, and divert to 

 Holland, Belgium, and the Hanse towns that demand which 

 Ireland now mainly supplies. Many persons believe that 

 Irelaud commands the British market — that she is without 

 a rival in the production of butter— that the exports of all 

 other countries are nothing compared with her own. This 

 is a mistake. The import of foreign butter is very large, 

 and has steadily increased under free trade. From 185,511 

 cwt. in 1844 it rose to 513,396 cwt. in 1856. Since then it 

 declined to 441,606 cwt. in 1857, and further to 388,000 

 in 1858. Of the total foreign imports, Holland contributes 

 the large quantity of 255,872 cwt. Now, it is computed 

 that the total quantity of Irish butter shipped to Liverpool 

 and London, which receive nearly all the Irish home ex- 

 port, is about 560,000 cwt, or little more than double the 

 Dutch. We should not, then, have our Hibernian friends 

 so sanguine about beating all rivals in the British market. 

 The fact that the consumption of foreign butter has steadily 

 increased, notwithstanding the 53. duty, is a strong proof 

 that rivalry is not only probable, but practicable ; and to 

 enable the Irish producer to hold his ground now, when all 

 are placed on the same level — with the difference in freight 

 only; which is slightly in favour of Ireland— they should 

 be careful to supply the best possible article, and maintain 

 the reputation for fair dealing which has hitherto charac- 

 terized the Irish manufacturer and merchant. Dishonest 

 practices will take place in every trade, and the very scru- 

 pulous Hollander has not been exempt from the charge of 

 turning a marc hanco by the exercise of a knavish ingenuity. 

 It was with no little concern we saw some weeks past a 

 circular from a London firm, complaining of the extensive 

 adulteration in Irish butter. Messrs. Yeates, Acocks, and 

 Copeman allege that butter ia largely adulterated, and, as 

 allegations are of little value without proofs, they give rea- 

 sons for their belief. In the "season," as it is called, 

 which extends from the middle of May to October, the 

 average weekly arrivals in London of Irish butter were 

 about 8,000 firkins. The average weekly arrivals this 

 Winter, when the season was over, and the cattle are stall- 

 fed and mostly dry, have been 12,000 firkins — showing an 

 increase of 33 per cent, on the Summer's average. Instead 

 of the production of bixtter decliajng in Winters compared 

 with Smnmer, it was impoi'tfitl irt tb? ratfl of 4,f'00 addU 



tional firkins per week. The extra imports must have been 

 the produce of adulteration, in the opinion of our infor- 

 mants, and they tell us how the thing is done. Large 

 quantities of beef fat and suet are sent over from England 

 to certain Irish ports, where the manufacture of the 

 spurious article is carried on, with the aid of potato starch, 

 water, and soda. Of this abominable compound about 

 8,000 firkins are sold every week in the London market. 

 The retailer, who gets it much cheaper than the pure article 

 — say from 10s. to 15s. per cwt. — forces its sale ; and the 

 consequence has been that this year the import of the real 

 article has declined from 10,000 firkins weekly to less than 

 3,000. This is very alarming, and deserves the serious at- 

 tention of all who feel an interest in Irish prosperity. The 

 decline of the butter manufacture in England, from the ex- 

 panding development of the cheeic trade, as well as the 

 increasing demand for fresh milk in the towns along the 

 railw.ay lines, afforded a great opportunity to the Irish but- 

 ter producer, of which, in justice to him, we must say he 

 took an honourable advantage, and not only held his ground, 

 but opened new markets in the teeth ot the Dutch compe- 

 tition. He does not fear, and has no reason to fear, a fair 

 rivalry in the production of butter, pork, and beef; but if 

 this systematic adulteration be not suppressed by some 

 means or other, the butter trade will be seriously affected. 

 It ought not to be difficult to discover the parties who lend 

 themselves to this base fraud. The former is wholly re- 

 lieved from blame. We suppose not one firkin in a hun- 

 dred is " stripped" in the Cork market ; for such impurity, 

 as the circular states, is extensively carried on in some 

 well-known ports. The farmer sometimes gave an extra 

 soakage to the firkin, and extra salt to its contents, to add 

 a few pounds to the weight, and depreciate the quality; 

 but with knowledge came improved processes of treatment, 

 and now complaints of dishonesty scarcely ever occur. 

 Though, we believe, great difficulties exist against the prac- 

 tical working of aa Anti-adulteration Act, especially in the 

 case of articles which must undergo delicate chemical tests, 

 yet butter needs no scientific apparatus to discover whether 

 1 it be genuine or mixed with non-butyrine ingredients. At 

 any rate, the process of detection is far simpler, and there 

 can be little difficulty in tracing the nauseous article from 

 the shop of the London retailer up to the Irish store whence 

 it was shipped. Messrs. Yeates, Acocks, and Copeman 

 distinctly state that beef fat and similar substances are 

 notoriously sent over to Ireland for the express purpose of 

 being mixed up with genuine butter, and then exported to 

 London, and, we suppose, Liverpool, Bristol, and other 

 ports. The places are not named where this disgraceful 

 practice is carried on, but we doubt whether any southern 

 ports resort to this manufacture. We fear much of this 

 noxious stuff is prepared nearer home ; and of this there 

 can be no doubt, that a vast quantitj' of adulterated butter, 

 purporting to be genuine, is sold to the working classes iu 

 Ddblin. The dealers saj' that 'pure butter cannot be sold 

 for the price they sell it at— Is. in the pound. The wholesale 

 price of Cork seconds is at the rate of 14d. per pound, and 

 when they retail at Is. they must submit to a heavy loss, 

 which t\iej are not diisposed to do, and supply the spurious 

 (lytjelftattbs lower pricpi Wo beljeye legislation may bo 



