672 Report on Butter, Cheese, Provisions, at Kilburn. 
twitted with reference to the quality of Scandinavian and Norman 
butter, they usually say that the dairy-farmers of those countries 
have the advantage of new or pasture grasses at all seasons of 
the year. Now, they have no such advantage ; and the sooner 
our dairy-farmers come to realise their true position in this 
respect the better. 
We are beaten by the butter-makers of those countries not 
through any natural advantages, but by the sheer force of know- 
ledge and skill. If we accept this truth, and apply the energy 
which has enabled us to place ourselves at the head of all 
countries in many branches of industry, we shall soon hold our 
own in dairy husbandry ; but as long as we allow the notion to 
prevail that our rivals possess certain advantages which do not 
exist, we shall make little or no progress. 
The good which may be done in a short time is well exem- 
plified by a few facts relating to Denmark, which have been 
published by the Agricultural Society of that country. 
About a quarter of a century ago the dairy practices of Den- 
mark were rather more backward than our own. Since then 
the Royal Agricultural Society, the Government, and private 
individuals have co-operated in effecting a reform. Within the 
short space of twelve years they have increased the exports of 
butter from about 8,000,000 to about 26,000,000 lbs. It was 
not until 1871 that the first butter-kneading machine was intro- 
duced from America by Professor Segelcke, and this machine is 
now very generally used, and with great advantage. While the 
Danes have been paying special attention to milk and its pro- 
ducts, and adopting new and improved systems and appliances, 
we, with few exceptions, have been pursuing the old systems. 
It is idle to talk, as many do, of Scandinavia being more 
favoured by Nature in regard to the production of good butter 
than Great Britain and Ireland. As far as I can judge, the 
soil and climate of many parts of England and Ireland are as 
well suited to butter-making as those of any country need be. 
We make, here and there, as good butter as the Danish or any 
other people. In Denmark, butter-making is now practised on 
tolerably uniform principles, and the result is that the article is 
good and of uniform quality, and commands a ready sale. With 
us the production of a good article of uniform quality is not the 
rule. The few who make a first-class article command for it a 
ready private sale. The great bulk of our butter is inferior 
in quality and sells cheap. Speaking for Ireland, I do not see 
how a reform can be effected within a reasonable time, unless 
we adopt the factory or co-operative system in some form or 
other. 
On the 600,000 holdings in Ireland, how few suitable dairies 
