TEE 



AGRICULTURAL 



JOURNAL. 



(561 



probably some reason unaccounted for 

 which explains the difficulty. In one 

 case 550,000gallonsof milk were handled, 

 and yet the cost of producing a pound of 

 butter reached l-85d. I am bound to say 

 that the general work is exceptionally 

 good, for in no single instance in which 

 figures are given was the butter ratio large. 

 The details supplied in the myriad of 

 figures which the report contains are of 

 enormous value to those who study the 

 co-operative system. Let us, however, 

 look at a few additional facts. From 1892 

 to 1898 butter systematically fell in price; 

 in the previous year it reached ll-55d,' 

 per pound ; in the latter year 9-83d : but 

 in 1899, although the number of cream- 

 eries rose from 100 to 160, the price of 

 the butter rose to 10-92d., falling last year 

 to 10-84d. Again, the quantity of butter 

 made from each gallon of milk, 6-26 oz. 

 in 1892, was increased, with one exception 

 year by year until 1899, falling a fraction 

 in 1900, when it was 6-59 oz. ; so that 

 those responsible have now the satisfac- 

 tion of knowing that by skilled work they 

 have increased the butter yield of ihe 

 milk and at the same time practically 

 maintained the price. There have, how- 

 ever, been greater fluctuations in the 

 price paid for the milk, which in 1892 

 was apparently 4d., falling to SW., in 

 round figures, from 1894 to 1898, and 

 rising from 1899 to 1900 to 3 84d. The 

 net profits realised last year was £ 12,000 

 —an enormous advance upon any previous 

 year. 



We may take it, then, that the creamery 

 system in Ireland is established as a great 

 success, and that it is now but a matter of 

 time for the whole country to be covered, 

 except so far as private creameries — 

 which are very numerous— are concerned. 

 The agricultural societies are also doing 

 work, although in one case a serious loss 

 has bjen sustained. The largest society 

 is at Enniscorthy, and here there are 732 

 ^fi^be^s, the year's trade reaching 

 ±-17,500. A.S the Minister for Agriculture 

 has told us, the farmers want cohesion, 

 and it may be many years before this 

 system becomes general in England, 

 where it is much needed. Not only does 

 combination enable the farmer to buy 

 good material, seed, food, stock, manure, 

 coals, implements, and the like, but in 

 every case he obtains what he needs at a 



much lower cost ; and this is a still more 

 serious item in Ireland than iu England, 

 inasmuch as in the small country towns 

 the dealers buy almost from hand to 

 mouth, and in the past have sold at a pro- 

 digious advance upon cost price. The 

 large English buyer is able to purchase 

 his 100 tons with advantage to himself. 

 But large tenants are in the minority ; it 

 is the smaller tenants in whose interest 

 co-operation should advance, and the 

 society of which Mr. Yerburgh is presi- 

 dent is r^ady to come to the rescue. 



Bots in Horses. 



REMEDIES for bots in horses are re- 

 garded with suspicion, owing to so 

 many having proved worthless. From 

 the way the bot obtains its sustenance 

 from the inner lining of the horse's 

 stomach, it is almost impossible to give 

 the animal any dose that will be taken by 

 the parasite. The following " cure for 

 bots" is taken from the journal of the 

 Jamaica Agricultural Society: — The 

 United States Department of Agriculture 

 publishes a simple cure for bots in horses. 

 An experimenter tried a few tests upon a 

 quantity of live bots taken from a horse 

 which the bots had killed. When put 

 into sage tea they died in 15 hours ; but 

 as that was too slow a process, he tried 

 them in nitric acid ; but it seemed to 

 trouble them no more than water. He 

 then bruised some tansy, and made an in- 

 fusion of the juice, and put some of the 

 bots in it. They were dead in a minute. 

 As he had a horse suspected of being 

 troubled with bots, he gave him some 

 tansy tea in the morning, and a dose of 

 salts in the evening. The next morning 

 the horse's excrement contained 1^ pints 

 of bots, and the cure, after repeated trials, 

 is now said to be recognised as thoroughly 

 effective. 



The late Lord Glasgow spent thousands in en- 

 deavouring to breed first-class race-horses If 

 he did not succeed in producing any whose 

 names live in Turf history, he deserves immor- 

 tality for his drastic method of getting rid of 

 bad thoroughbreis. He never sold a horse ; he 

 used to have a regular shooting day after trying 

 his two-year-olds, and those found not good 

 enough to train were destroyed out of hand. 



