306 



GENERAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. [Dec. 1896. 



The instruction is intended to be both practical and theo- 

 retical, including agriculture, chemistry, land surveying, natural 

 history, mathematics, hydraulics, veterinary science, book-keep- 

 ing, and the English and Arabic languages. 



The complete course of instruction will extend over four 

 years and a diploma will be granted on passing an examination 

 at the end of the cjurse. 



The Finnish Butter Trade. 



The Director of the Finnish High School of Agriculture has 

 recently written an interesting work* upon agriculture, which 

 contains some useful information relating to the progress of the 

 dairy industry in Finland. The total number of cows in the 

 country in 1893 is stated to have been 949,000, as compared 

 with 670,000 in 1865. Several attempts have been made to 

 introduce various foreign breeds of cows, but the native race 

 has not lost its popularity, and is generally recognised to be a 

 good milker. The Finnish cow is said to be usually a small 

 animal, weighing about 660 lbs. live weight, of a pale red 

 colour, and sometimes polled. 



The production of butter in the country has been carried on 

 for a number of years, and even in the middle of this century 

 the exports of Finnish butter exceeded a million pounds 

 annually. In 1867 about 6,600,000 lbs. were exported, and 

 there has sine 3 been a steady development. 



Until about ten years ago upwards of 50 per cent, of the 

 butter exported was sent into Russia, but this trade has 

 declined considerably in recent years, the bulk of the Finnish 

 butter being now consigned to Denmark and Great Britain. 

 The exports in the five years ending with 1895 were as 

 follows : — 



Year. 



To Russia. 



To Other Countries. 



Total. 





lbs. 



lbs. 



lbs. 



1891 



3,507,640 



14,012,194 



17,519,834 



1892 



2,179,430 



15,625,030 



17,804,461 



1893 



3,213,463 



17,997,177 



21,210,640 



1894 



2,928,409 



26.408,743 



29,337,152 



1895 



1,828,200 



29,224,919 



31,053,119 



Formerly a large portion of the consignments to Great Britain 

 was sent across Sweden, but this traffic was checked by the 

 Swedish duty on butter, and now nearly the whole of the 

 butter exported to the British market is shipped direct. 

 Finnish butter is largely consumed in Copenhagen, where it is 

 sold at lower prices than the Danish produce. 



* Landbruket i Finland. Dr. Gosta Grotenfelt. 



