CHAPTER X 



THE MILK INDUSTRY 



THE production of milk in Great Britain is, 

 next to the production of meat, the most im- 

 portant branch of our agricultural industry. 

 During the past ten years it has attained gigantic 

 proportions, and the old system of retailing milk 

 to which water was frequently added, drawn from 

 cows the great majority of which were stalled 

 and fed within the precincts of our large towns, 

 has given place to an improved system under 

 which pure milk is dispatched, after production 

 on the farm, direct from the rural districts to 

 the distributor. The result is that the most 

 valuable of all foods has been placed before the 

 people of every class at a price within their 

 reach, and under conditions which render it 

 purer and safer than was formerly the case. 

 What the consumption of milk was twenty-five 



