Our Imports of Dairy Produce. 



17 



formed about one-fifth of the total importation in the 

 earlier year mentioned, is also relatively in smaller demand 

 in this country than was formerly the case, as the imports of 

 this variety now constitute about one-eighth of the entire 

 annual receipts. The average value of the cheese imported from 

 all sources in 1896 was 43s. 8d. per cwt. ; that from the United 

 States was valued at 42s. 6d., and Canadian at 42s., per cwt. 



Nearly the whole of the foreign margarine consumed in 

 the United Kingdom is made in Holland, the Dutch manu- 

 facturers having enjoyed practically a monopoly of the trade 

 with this country during the past decade, but the quantity 

 imported has declined since 1892. The average value of this 

 imported product in 1896 was nearly 54s. per cwt. 



Fresh milk and cream were imported in comparatively 

 large quantities in 1894 and 1895 ; but this trade, which 

 attracted some attention at that time, shows few signs of 

 becoming permanent. In 1894 the quantity imported was 

 161,600 gallons, in the following year there was a total 

 importation of 127,000 gallons, and last year the receipts 

 amounted to only 22,776 gallons. The bulk of our supply 

 of foreign milk and cream has been furnished hitherto by 

 Holland and Sweden, the latter country having contributed 

 the greater quantity. Condensed milk was first distin- 

 guished in the Trade Returns in 1888, and the imports 

 have increased annually from 352,000 cwts. of the value of 

 £735>ooo to 611,685 cwts. of the value of £1,172,000 

 last year. 



We may now proceed to review briefly the principal 

 features of dairy-farming in the several countries which con- 

 tribute to the imports of manufactured milk products. 

 Among our foreign and colonial purveyors of butter, Den- 

 mark occupies the premier position, and her share of this 

 trade has been steadily growing during the past ten years. 

 In the same period the stock of cows on Danish farms 

 has increased from about 900,000 to over 1,011, coo, so 

 that it now numbers about 450 per 1,000 of the population of 

 the country. (In the United Kingdom the estimated 

 number of cows and heifers in milk or in calf represents 

 about 100 per 1,000 of the population.) The cultivated 



B 



