108 AGRICULTURE AND TARIFF REFORM. 



It is customary to point to tte success which 

 has attended the movement initiated by Sir 

 Horace Plnnkett and others, in Ireland, in proof 

 of the fact that the same might be done upon this 

 side of the Irish ChanneL 



As a matter of fact, what has been done? The 

 Irish farmer has co-operated for the sale of milk, 

 which is then, under his own auspices, converted 

 into butter. Cheese-making is not carried on to 

 any extent worth mentioning, although there 

 seems no very apparent reason why it should not 

 be. The Irish farmer has no opening for the 

 sale of milk in the large towns of Ireland, and as 

 a result he must and does convert the fluid into 

 butter. On the other hand, the British farmer 

 has a large and increasing sale for milk in the 

 industrial centres of England, and experience has 

 shown him that this is more profitable to him 

 than to turn the milk into butter. He cannot 

 be expected to make butter if it is less profitable 

 than to sell milk. Cheese-making too, upon this 

 side of the Channel, does not prove to the great 

 majority of British farmers so attractive or so 

 profitable as the sale of milk. Here again, there- 

 fore, he cannot be blamed for choosing to sell 

 his milk instead of to make it into cheese if he 

 secures more profit by the former, and (as lie 

 does) a more certain trade. 



It may be urged, however, that he should co- 

 operate for the sale of his milk. Now this par- 

 ticular co-operation, so far as the public is con- 

 cerned, might have a very unfortunate effect, as, 



