238 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



very high-class cattle in Ireland, the greatest attention has "been paid to the strains 

 that produce most beef, at the expense of the loss of the milk. In other countries 

 they breed dairy stock for milk first and beef afterwards. They consider it pays 

 them better to get a high return of butter for some years and lose a little on the sale 

 of the cow. In a very few years a small herd of a good strain of milkers on each Gov- 

 ernment farm would disseminate good milking blood through the whole dairy stock 

 of Ireland. At present, the general run of farmers never know what kind of stock 

 their dairy cows are derived from ; they buy them on chance, in fairs and markets. 

 Some idea of what may bo done in the way of breeding for milk may be gathered 

 from the fact that in America particular strains of Jersey cows yield from 90 to 100 

 pounds of butter per month, and there are authenticated records of cows yielding 105 

 pounds of butter per month for a season. Of course these cattle are only fancy 

 breeds, but it shows what might be done on Government farms. The particulars of 

 these records can be found in the Breeders' Gazette of America. It is unnecessary for 

 me here to state what should be the training given in such dairy schools to pupils. 

 There should be a seed- testing station attached to each, as one of the greatest draw- 

 backs to small dairy farmers in Ireland is the wretched class of seeds imposed on hirn 

 by unscrupulous dealers. I am informed by practical farmers of great experience 

 that it is owing to the deleterious adulterations of grass seeds that the increased 

 aborting of cows is mainly due. This source of loss to the Irish dairy farmer is in- 

 creasing year after year. It is being anxiously investigated by the American Govern- 

 ment, and different authorities ascribe its spread to different causes. It illustrates 

 the necessity of having a veterinary as well as a seed department in each school. 

 Each of these county establishments should be provided with a traveling dairy, and 

 its working, illustrated by a competent lecturer, should be exhibited at the large 

 fairs and other centers where the agricultural community could be instructed. A 

 model dairy and permanent exhibition of improved appliances might with very great 

 advantages be established at the Cork Butter Market, where hundreds of farmers 

 could s^ jt in operation every day. Dairy education must bo brought within reach 

 of the larming masses, poor as well as rich. I think elementary education on dairy 

 farming should form part of the national school system. Government should sup- 

 plement the funds of agricultural societies to enable them to offer attractive prizes 

 for successful dairying. Without proper dairy and cow house accommodation no 

 amount of education would enable the Irish farmer to produce good butter. They 

 are practically without one or the other at present, that is, as these buildings are un- 

 derstood in dairy countries, on the Continent and in America. Milk, cream and but- 

 ter are most susceptible of taint from any kind of bad odors or impure air. The most 

 frequent complaint against secondary Irish butter is its peaty or smoky flavor. This 

 is contracted by having the milk set, "and the butter made in the ordinary dwelling 

 rooms of small farmers. Impurities also attach to the milk, owing to the filthy 

 condition of the cow from bad stabling. Therefore a model well-drained cow-house 

 is of as much importance as a model dairy. Loans on favorable terms should be given 

 to the farmers to erect those buildings, and I think it would be well if the Govern- 

 ment prepared model plans for each class of building, and insisted on their being all 

 constructed according to those plans. The cost could be fixed by scale, in proportion 

 to the number of cows to be provided for. The expense of obtaining such loans 

 should also be regulated by a low fixed scale. In asking so much assistance from the 

 Government for Irish dairy farmers, I do not ask for more for them than has been 

 done by other Governments, and I do not see why these county farms should not be, 

 at least, self-supporting. No scheme of improved dairying \v il 1 quite enable the Irish 

 farmer to compete favorably without extension of the prost*n< moans of transporta- 

 tion. Ireland must be opened up by either tramways or .'r.ylit railways, and until 

 some cheaper and quicker means of being able to construct them than exists at pres- 

 ent is provided by legislation, limiting and reducing the power of factious opposi- 

 tion, this development will be of very slow growth. If the Government recognize the 

 strong claim the Irish dairy farmers have on them, and even at the eleventh hour 

 undertake to provide the assistance I ask for, then there is still ample room to hope 

 for a speedy revival of the Irish butter trade and the prosperity of the country. With 

 proper manufacture Irish butter must lead the market, on account of its natural su- 

 periority and flavor. Of course a great deal will have to be done by all who have to 

 handle the improved make of butter, so as to put it in the markets in the most at- 

 tractive shape. The packages must be greatly improved I would recommend white 

 packages, of 56 pounds, as most likely to be received favorably. They should be so 

 shaped that they could not be rolled; thiswould save the butter from great abuse, and 

 keep the packages clean. I see no reason why our butter packages should not be 

 made of beech, which grows in Ireland most abundantly, and, which, consequently, 

 would cost less than imported oak. 



There is an objection to it on the ground that butter does not keep so well in beech 

 as in oak casks for a lengthened period. In the future there will be no necessity to 

 keep butter any time in casks, and prejudices of this kind should not bo permitted 



