Canadian Agriculture. • 409 
that such an opinion will be challenged." At a meeting of 
farmers held at Belleville on 13th March, 1884, it was resolved 
to report to the Select Agricultural Committee that the fol- 
lowing are among the present deficiencies of Ontario farming : 
" Want of proper drainage, especially subsoil drainage. Want 
of care in preparing and applying barnyard-manure. Absence 
of artificial manures. Neglect to extirpate weeds. Root- 
growing discouraged by the scarcity and high price of labour. 
The breeds of sheep and cattle should be improved by the 
importation of high-class animals. A systematic and uniform 
mode of butter-making is the great want. The cultivation of 
such fruits as are most suitable for exportation ought to be 
encouraged." 
That branch of dairying which is concerned with cheese- 
making is an undoubted success in Ontario, a success attri- 
butable to the development of the factory system. Each 
factory is usually conducted on the co-operative principle ; 
the milk is collected by a waggon sent round from the factory, 
tested by a lactometer to ascertain if it is of standard 
quality, and each farmer credited with the quantity supplied. 
The returns, less expenses, are divided among the contri- 
butors, or " patrons." The interests of the dairy industry are 
carefully fostered by two incorporated Dairymen's Associations 
in the eastern and western sections of the Province respectively, 
and regular cheese-markets are established at various centres. 
In 1882, the returns made to the Government from 266 factories 
gave 85,226 as the number of cows whose milk was supplied ; 
and the average return to each patron, of whom there were 
13,349, was 33/., while the average value of cheese per cow 
was 5/. An average made up from 306 factories gave l0'6 lbs. 
milk (say 1 gallon) to 1 lb. cheese, the cheese being valued at 
5f/. per lb. The standard yield of milk per cow was 3000 lbs. 
(say 300 gallons). Only sixteen creameries were in operation 
in 1882 ; in two of them 24,822 inches of cream produced 
23,411 lbs. of butter, and in two others 1,753,241 lbs. of milk 
yielded 64,807 lbs. of butter, equivalent to 27 lbs. milk to 1 lb. 
butter. The total quantity of butter made in the Province, 
chiefly at farmhouses, was in 1882, 306,567 cwt., and in 1883, 
293,252 cwt. 
Under the sunny sky of southern Ontario, where the small 
but graceful humming-birds have their summer home, fruit- 
culture is practised on a large and successful scale. Nearly 
100 varieties of apples are cultivated, besides crab-apples, 
pears, plums, peaches, and grapes. Unfortunately, nearly all 
the apples that reach the English market from across the 
Atlantic are classed as American apples, whereas the general 
VOL. XXI. — S. S. 2 E 
