78 



On the Production of Butter. 



is a very superior article, and arrives in this country extremely 

 well packed ; but " there is no article in butter," says a London 

 factor, " that is so great a favourite as Dorset butter, if supplied 

 while fresh, and properly packed in air-tight boxes." This 

 word, however, is the alpha of the London factor's complaints. 

 Numerous and loud are the complaints from London factors 

 against the casks of the west-country butter producers. The 

 Friesland butter is sent over in oak casks — beautiful specimens 

 of workmanship — perfectly air-tight, and weighing 20 lbs. a-piece, 

 whilst home country butter, for the most part, makes its appear- 

 ance in badly-made casks, weighing but 6 or 7 lbs. each. The 

 Irish firkins, though not so well made as the Dutch casks, are 

 considered better than those generally used in England. Fresh 

 butter is sent in flats, in 2 lb. -rolls. The greatest quantity of 

 fresh butter is received from Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and 

 Northamptonshire. It is a curious fact that Cambridge, which 

 once had a name for butter in the London market, and was the 

 leading English butter county 100 years ago, is, in that sense, 

 now completely extinct, as far as the London factors are con- 

 cerned: and so much has the course of things altered, that 

 Dorset butter is now sometimes purchased in the London market 

 for consumption in Cambridgeshire. Butter is produced in large 

 quantities in Yorkshire and Cumberland; that of Yorkshire is 

 principally consumed in its own locality ; that of Cumberland 

 finds its way very much into the eastern counties, in casks, the 

 article being much suited to the trade of those parts. It is 

 difficult to ascertain with accuracy the quantities of butter sup- 

 plied to the London market by the home counties ; but a well- 

 informed factor estimates the produce of Dorsetshire at from 

 30,000 to 40,000 firkins per annum, and of Buckinghamshire 

 and Oxford (which do not appear in the printed quotations) at 

 the same weights each. The produce of Northampton is esti- 

 mated at about half this quantity. 



Now that the farmer's returns from cereal crops are not regarded 

 as the paramount object of farming, the production of butter — as 

 a part of the system of grass-farming, now so much in favour — 

 assumes an especial importance. That which was formerly dele- 

 gated to the dairymaid requires then, and deserves, the best 

 attentions of the intelligent farmer, who will find his painstaking 

 and skill in the production of this article rewarded by a ready 

 demand at steady prices. The history of the butter trade, and 

 the assurances of the most intelligent factors, confirm the opinion, 

 that prices of butter will not fluctuate like those of corn, and that 

 a market will always be found, and a preference given to the best 

 productions of our own country. 



