174 



French Dairy Industry. 



The great butter-producing districts are, as might be 

 expected, Brittany and Normandy, as well as the extreme 

 north. The departments which in 1892 produced the largest 

 quantities are Ille-et-Vilaine, with 161,582 cwts. ; Nord, with 

 142,063 cwts.; Calvados, 138,275 cwts.; Pasde Calais, 112,427 

 cwts.; and Manche, 108,218 cwts. 



France has for many years exported considerable quanti- 

 ties of butter to this country ; an exceptional maximum of 

 over 700,000 cwts. having been shipped to our shores in 1874, 

 During the last twenty years, however, no progress has to 

 be recorded in this direction, and the French exportation has 

 remained practically stationary, and, in fact, exhibited a 

 slight decline. As the rapidly increasing consumption of 

 foreign butter in this country has been largely supplied by 

 other countries, France has been greatly outstripped, and 

 from holding the premier position and supplying 37 per 

 cent, of our imports in 1877, she in 1897 only supplied 

 14 per cent. 



Examination of the French trade returns for 1896 shows 

 that four-fifths of the butter exported from France comes to 

 this country. Practicallv the whole of this export is of 

 French origin; the trade returns exhibiting in 1896 an 

 export to this country of 425,239 cwts., of which only 11,459 

 cwts. had come through the country in transit trade, tlie 

 whole of which* it may be noted, came from Italy. The 

 little butter which in 1896 was not exported to Great Britain^ 

 or consumed within the country, was despatched chiefly to 

 Brazil and Belgium. 



Of cheese, the French people make a somewhat larger 

 quantit}^ than of butter, and particulars of its production are 

 given in the 1892 inquiry in much more detail than in the 

 case of the other comestible. The total amount, both in 1892 

 and 1882, is however understated, and it is remarked that no 

 returns, or only deficient returns, were received from certain 

 departments in which the manufacture of butter was of pre- 

 ponderating importance. This omission chiefly affects the 

 cheese very generally consumed on the farm. 



The 1892 returns distinguish between the various kinds of 

 cheese according as it is hard or soft, and also according as to 



