46 AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION 



the soil, but the evidence tends to show that success in 

 dairy farming, as in other branches, depends in the long 

 run on careful feeding of the soil, whether by cake, or by 

 occasional boning or liming, and that this is recognised 

 by the successful farmers. 



The general result of the evidence on this head, is 

 that, where there are good markets at hand, dairy farming 

 does and must succeed, and that it succeeds in propor- 

 tion to the quality and condition of the land, and to the 

 degree in which production is made most scientific and 

 most economical, and in which distribution is best orga- 

 nised and facilitated. The remarkable success attained 

 by the co-operative organisations in Ireland, under the 

 guidance of Mr Horace Plunkett, should be followed up 

 in Great Britain with confident expectation of similar 

 results. A well-judged expenditure on the improve- 

 ment of dairy stock, on buildings, equipment, on the 

 technical training of those employed, and on scientific 

 appliances and methods of preparation, handling, and 

 packing of butter, will probably be a highly reproductive 

 investment. On the whole, this branch of farming 

 seems the most hopeful in the near future for the country 

 at large, and it is certainly, in my opinion, advisable that 

 any administrative or legislative proposals, which can be 

 shown to be necessary for its development, and for the 

 removal of obstacles to its success, should be promptly 

 initiated. 



In this connection it seems probable, that in the 

 interests of health, some legal restriction should be put 

 on the abuse of so-called preservatives, which enable 

 importers to put on the market, milk, cream, and butter 

 from abroad, which are only kept in consumable con- 

 dition by a liberal infusion of boracic and salicylic acid, 

 and even of lime, in such quantities as to be highly in- 

 jurious to health. 



Laying Down to Grass. 



Sir John Lawes, the strongest advocate before the 

 Richmond Commission of the policy of meeting the fall 



