THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 235 



THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY IN IRELAND.* 



In every country dairying, in a more or less developed form, is one of the 

 earliest industries to spring up, and Ireland is no exception to the rule. 

 Indeed, in this country dairying was carried on at a very early period, and 

 the ways of making butter practised by the early Irish are minutely de- 

 scribed in the ancient histories of the countr}^ At what date butter was first 

 exported from Ireland is doubtful, but we know that a flourishing export 

 trade existed in the middle of the sixteenth century. The trade gradually 

 increased in importance, a hundred years later it had assumed considerable 

 dimensions, and towards the end of the seventeenth century it was an 

 important item in the national economy. How the trade developed at a 

 later period can be seen from the following figures given by Arthur 

 Young : — 



1768 - '- - ;^I73.259 



1769 - - - 260,357 



1770 - - - 149.464 



1771 - - - 236,403 



1772 - - - 204,810 



1773 - - - 229,528 



1774 - - - 211,152 



1775 - - - 245,624 



1776 - - - 237,926 



Most of this butter was sent from the ports of Cork and Waterford. 

 From 1790 to 1825 there was a large increase in the export trade, as the 

 following figures show : — 



CWTS. 



Annual average of 3 years to 1790 - - 198,149 



215,100 

 225,187 



- 303,586 



- 330,635 

 365,226 



- 442,883 



After 1825 there is no record of the Irish exports, as subsequently the 

 traffic between the two Kingdoms was treated as a coasting trade. 



* [This article on the Dairying Industry in Ireland is largely historical. The statistics of 

 the great Cork Butter Market deal with its best period, and one not meant, of course, to 

 illustrate existing conditions. For an account of the Creamery movement the reader is 

 referred to p. 218. — Ed.] 



