The Departmental Exhibit at the Btjijal SJioir. 971 



THE DEPARTMENTAL EXHIBIT AT THE 

 ROYAL SHOW. 



Bij G. H. BobiuMjii. 



This year, for the hvst time in connection with the Koyal At>-i-iciil- 

 tuval Society's Show, the Department of Ag-riculture was in a position 

 to make a display worthy of the work which it is doing, and in some 

 degree indicating- the extent and variety of the assistance which it 

 affords to the man on the land. The accommodation in the new 

 building, ample as it appears at first sight, proved all too smnll for the 

 demands made npon it, some of the scientific branches being quite 

 unable to represent their work in an adequate manner in consequence 

 of the limited space placed at their disposal. Still the new departure 

 of grouping all the departmental exhibits under one roof must be 

 regarded as an undoubted success, and was evidently highly approved 

 of by the crowds w^ho visited the show^ 



Dairy Branch. 



From the point of view of the general public, the dairying exhibit, 

 so Avell arranged by Mr. Crowe, w^as the most impressive, the eye of 

 the visitor being first caught by the great tiers of boxes filled with 

 butter, representing the daily output in the height of the season of the 

 largest factory in the State. The number of boxes was 252 each 

 of 56 lbs. net, a total of 6^ tons valued at £700. 



Dairymen were specially intei'ested in the collection of butters 

 from the various countries contributing to the London market, casks 

 from Denmark and Siberia being displayed alongside boxes from 

 Argentina, Canada, Ireland, Victoria, New South Wales, South Aus- 

 tralia and New Zealand. As was only to be expected from the 

 varied lengths of time these had been kept, and the more or less 

 favorable periods of the season when made, the merits of the various 

 butters could hardly be compared on an equitable basis, but there 

 could be no denying the prime quality of the new season's South 

 Australian, while the Irish creamery and Danish were also excellent. 



Though London requires its butter in boxes. Eastern ports take a 

 considerable quantity from Victoria every year in tins of various 

 sizes, and samples of these from different packers were to be seen. 



Cheese was shown from all parts of the world in an almost endless 

 variety of shapes, styles and colours, ranging from the diminutive 

 round Edal to the giant Gruyere, nearly as large as a cartwheel and 

 much the shape of the old-fashioned solid wooden wheel. As no show 

 of cheese would be complete without the veined Stilton and the 

 fragrant Gorgonzola, both these were there, as also the less expensive 

 but more widely eaten Cheddar from Canada and New Zealand. 



To townspeople the cases of dried milk appealed perhaps more 

 strongly than anything else. Many found it difficult to Ix-lieve that 



