lo July, 1909.] TliC Future of Dairy FarminginVutoria. 



415 



less lucrative enter[)rise a clearing sale is held. I do not think that we 

 can complain of this movement ho\ve\er much we may regret it. The 

 dailv milking, morning and evening, year in year out, is an occupation 

 which is attractive to verv few. The remedy for this phase in the history 

 of the industry is to show that dairy farming can be carried on in such a 

 way that present profits can be enormousl\ increased, so that where a 

 family has several hundred acres of land in a district of good rainfall 

 the farm can be made a business concern of such size that the proprietor 

 requires to devote the whole of his time to managing his estate. He should 

 no more think of doing the work of a milk hand day after day than the 

 contractor for a line of railway thinks of earning his profits by pushing 

 a wheelbarrow all dav long. 



DIAGRAM SHOWING VICTORIAN BUTTER EXPORTS. 



This idea of the expansion of thousands of dairy farms in the best 

 districts of Victoria into great business concerns has not vet fired the 

 imagination of more than one farmer every here and there. Yet the thing 

 is perfectly feasible. Every .storekeeper and merchant beginning business 

 in a modest way considers he has not made a success of his venture if his 

 sales and profits are not steadily expanding year by year. He looks 

 forward to a time a few years hence when his capital will have accumu- 

 lated so as to make him independent of financial support from the banks. 

 He carefully dissects the income and expenditure on the various branches 

 of his business. He can put his finger on those departments which are 

 paying and those which are in an unsatisfactory condition, and the fact 

 that he is successful indicates that these methods secure the survival of the 

 fittest. Thousands of our dairy farmers have it in their power to march 

 on from year to year with a certainty and at a rate which can be rivalled 

 by very few branches of human industry and, as far as certainty is con- 

 cerned, which canbe equalled by none. Such examples as Mr. T. Strick- 

 land, Darnum, Gippsland, who milks 173 cow^s for an average return per 

 cow of over £ia,. and Mr. W. T. Manifold, Camperdown, who rejects 

 from his herd of milking shorthorns all cows which produce less than 

 300 lbs. of butter in the course of a year, show what can be done by steady 

 and persistent effort along right lines. The success accomplished by these 

 men is within the reach of everyone who will attend to three simple rules 

 which T will elaborate directly. Good luck or special ability may bring 

 success a little more quickly, but it is a fact bevond dispute that where 



