20 



Our Imports of Dairy Produce. 



of agriculture in France ; but co-operative dairies in that 

 country were practically unknown until quite recent years, and 

 their number did not exceed 100 at the end of 1895. These 

 establishments are, however, principally engaged in the home 

 trade, the greater part of the French butter produced in 

 Normandy and Brittany for export being prepared in what are 

 known as blending factories, which are owned mainly by the 

 large export houses. In these factories the butter collected 

 from the farmers in the neighbourhood is graded and mixed 

 by machinery in order to obtain a product of uniform colour 

 and quality. A full description of the methods of manu- 

 facture followed in Normandy will be found in another part 

 of this journal, p. 70. 



According to a recent estimate of the French Minister 

 of Agriculture the number of cows in the Republic is 

 6,360,000, and the annual production of milk is 

 about 1,716 million gallons, or 270 gallons per cow. The 

 exports of butter from France in 1895 amounted to 511,546 

 cwts. In 1895 the value of the milk produced was officially 

 estimated at about 6fd. per gallon, and the value of the 

 butter exported was put at about 8|d. per lb. for salt 

 and nfd. for fresh butter, or 3^d. and 4^d. respectively per 

 gallon of milk employed. 



In Sweden, co-operative dairies have been established 

 in districts in the south-west, and they now number 

 302 as compared with 73 in 1891. There are over 700 estate 

 dairies and about 500 commercial dairies in different parts of 

 the kingdom, the latter being run for the most part by joint- 

 stock companies purchasing milk from the farmers. In 900 of 

 these establishments the cream is separated by centrifugal 

 separators, and in 500 of them the Schwartz process of separa- 

 tion is employed. The exports of Swedish butter amounted 

 in 1895 to 53,000,000 lb. ; about 60 per cent, of it is con- 

 signed directly to the United Kingdom, nearly all the 

 remainder is shipped to Denmark, whence a considerable 

 quantity is again exported to British ports. According to 

 the latest official estimate the number of cows in Sweden is 

 1,683,1 16, or about 345 per 1,000 of the population. 



Dutch butter does not now form more than eight per cent. 



