SELF-HELP NOT PEOTECTION 223 



should go to the wall, and genuineness is our only strength. 

 Bogus butter mixed with margarine, or bogus cheese made 

 up with hog's lard, would kill the industry. So, too, if it 

 is to compete with success, English butter must be well 

 and uniformly made, carefully packed, and sent to market 

 in attractive condition. Slovenly systems result in strong 

 taste and low prices. These necessary elements have of 

 late brought into prominence milk-factories and creameries. 

 The danger of the system, unless it is conducted by and 

 for farmers, is that it may establish another race of middle- 

 men. 



If tenant-farmers could but clear their eyes of the 

 dust of Protection, their outlook is by no means dismal. 

 They enjoy a climate which is admirably adapted for 

 diversified farming ; they have at their very doors an 

 insatiable market ; they command the best breeds of live 

 animals ; the diminished value of agricultural produce is 

 met by a corresponding fall in rents and the costs of 

 production ; labour is cheap, abundant, and, when good, 

 the best in the world. They have before them examples, 

 in every county, of men of their own class who have 

 conquered circumstances, and who are at the present 

 moment making money in their profession. All that is 

 required is a frank recognition, both by landlords and 

 tenants, of the changed conditions under which farming 

 can be made to pay ; on the one side, fair rents and 

 proper homesteads for the manufacture of meat and dairy 

 produce ; on the other, revived energy, scientific practices, 

 and more direct relations between producers and con- 

 sumers. 



