BUTTER TRADE JERSEY DAIRIES 43 



butter trade could be recovered by the British farmer if 

 production and distribution were rationally expanded, 

 so as to enable wholesale dealers to obtain promptly 

 supplies of the best grades of guaranteed and uniform 

 excellence. 



Mr Treadwell has given up butter-making ; at the 

 lowered prices it would not pay for labour ; milk he has 

 found profitable. 



Mr J. F. Hall strongly recommends dairy farming 

 with Jersey cows. Butter profits depend on the 

 economical production of the greatest quantity, of the 

 highest quality of milk. With Jerseys he obtains i lb 

 of butter from seven quarts of milk, while the ordinary 

 rate is i lb of butter from ten or twelve quarts of milk. 

 On his farm of 180 acres he obtains a rent of 25s an acre, 

 5 per cent, interest on his capital as tenant, and also 

 interest on his outlay on permanent improvements. 



Mr Hall argues that butter from shorthorn cows 

 cannot pay at is a pound, because 4d to 4|d a gallon 

 for the milk required is an impossible price ; with 

 Jerseys Mr Hall was realising lod a gallon, selling his 

 butter at I5d a lb ; but by breeding from the best Jersey 

 butter cows he is confident of getting milk which will 

 produce i lb of butter to six quarts. The breed is far 

 more important than the feeding. Two shorthorn cows 

 require as much land as three Jerseys. But the three 

 Jerseys would produce 1 500 gallons in the year as com- 

 pared with 1200 from the two shorthorns, and this means 

 that the Jersey milk would be id a gallon cheaper to 

 produce. Three Jerseys will thus produce in butter and 

 skim milk i^i5 a year more than two shorthorns, and 

 that for a number of years. On the other hand, the two 

 shorthorns when sold to the butcher will, he estimates, 

 bring ;^I2 more. On these grounds Mr Hall argues for 

 a large extension of Jersey dairies. But it may be 

 objected that not only the question of beef supply puts 

 a limit to such extension, but also any great increase in 

 the supply of high class butter would probably lower 

 prices so as to eat away profits. 



In Derbyshire, dairy farms are, as a rule, small — 



