192 A FARMER'S YEAR 



with every variety of intermediate shade, for different eountries 

 consume different colours ; indeed, it is not uncommon to find 

 that one town in England will not look at the brand which pleases 

 another town. Moreover, it has to be packed in accordance with 

 its place of destination, in oak tubs for one countr)', in baskets for 

 another, and so forth. 



Much edified, my friend, with whom I had inspected the 

 factory, and I took our departure. After we had walked for a 

 while through the streets of the city, I was obliged to call his 

 attention to the fact that his boots appeared to smell exceedingly 

 disagreeable. He retaliated with the remark that he had noticed 

 the same phenomenon about my own, but had been prevented l)y 

 [joliteness from mentioning the fact. This led to investigation, and 

 the discovery that the evil odour arose from the essence of mar- 

 garine in which we had been walking. Many days went by before 

 those boots were again fit to wear, which shows the vitality and 

 nourishing nature of the substances wherewith they had been 

 impregnated. By the way, I am able to reassure consumers of 

 this article of commerce, who, I suppose, must include the majority 

 of the inhabitants of these islands, that in one respect it has been 

 libelled. Shortly before my visit statements were extensively 

 published in the Press to the effect that margarine is largely 

 composed of oils and greases evaporated from the mud of the 

 Thames below London, and other rivers that run through great 

 cities. I asked the proprietors of the factory if there was any 

 truth in this allegation, and they replied that it was quite untrue. 

 Margarine, it would seem, is practically the fat of animals flavoured 

 to taste, and coloured in such a manner as to deceive an 

 imaginative pubHc into the belief that it is eating butter. Also it 

 is very remunerative to manufacture. I have a friend who, having 

 lost money in farming, invested in a margarine factory. It has 

 paid him twenty per cent, ever since ! 



But it is not only in the matter of butter that the public is 

 deceived. A while ago, to my astonishment, I saw in the papers 

 that a trading corporation in which 1 chance to hold one or two 



