158 
Agricultural  Competition. 
Butter. 
Our  imports  of  butter,  which  nearly  doubled  between  1894 
and  1906,  when  they  reached  the  maximum,  have  declined 
slightly,  chiefly  on  account  of  decreases  in  shipments  from 
Canada,  Australia  and  the  United  States.  From  the  country 
last  named  they  were  never  very  large,  and  now  they  have 
fallen  to  an  insignificant  quantity.  Denmark  is  much  the 
most  extensive  contributor,  followed  by  Russia,  France, 
Sweden,  Australia,  and  New  Zealand.  Russia  (Finland)  has 
made  the  greatest  headway  in  recent  years,  while  Denmark, 
with  some  fluctuations,  has  greatly  increased  her  consign- 
ments in  a series  of  years,  those  of  1908  representing  the 
maximum.  Margarine,  which  competes  with  our  butter, 
comes  chiefly  from  the  Netherlands.  The  quantity  under  its 
proper  name  has  decreased  greatly  since  1892;  but  whether  the 
quantity  of  adulterated  butter,which  should  be  styled  margarine, 
has  fallen  off  or  not  it  is  impossible  to  say.  Unfortunately,  our 
latest  Act  relating  to  the  sale  of  butter  allows  adulterated 
stuff  to  be  sold  under  other  names  than  that  of  margarine. 
Cheese. 
For  a great  number  of  years  the  bulk  of  our  imported 
cheese  came  from  the  United  States.  In  1878,  for  example, 
nearly  three-fourths  of  the  total  were  derived  from  that 
source,  and  as  recently  as  1885,  or  possibly  a little  later,  that 
country  was  still  the  greatest  contributor.  Canada,  however, 
had  then  been  steadily  gaining  ground  on  the  strength  of 
superior  quality  of  her  cheese  and  its  freedom  from  the 
adulteration  with  extraneous  fat  which  impaired  the  prestige 
of  her  chief  rival  producer.  By  1901  Canada  was  sending 
us  nearly  three  times  as  much  cheese  as  we  received  from 
the  United  States,  and  in  1908  she  sent  us  about  fifteen  times 
as  much.  Both  the  Netherlands  and  New  Zealand  now  supply 
us  with  more  than  twice  as  much  as  the  United  States  sends. 
Indeed,  if  the  figures  for  the  eleven  months  of  1909  ended 
with  November  be  taken  into  account.  New  Zealand’s 
contribution  is  six  times  that  of  the  United  States,  whence 
the  supply  has  become  quite  unimportant.  New  Zealand 
has  made  the  greatest  advance  in  the  exportation  of  cheese 
in  recent  years,  though  Canada  still  sends  considerably  more 
than  half  the  total.  Australia  at  one  time  seemed  likely  to 
be  a considerable  competitor,  but  has  supplied  us  with  only 
small  quantities  of  cheese  occasionally  in  recent  years.  Our 
total  imports  of  cheese  have  fallen  off  since  1900. 
Milk  and  Cream. 
In  spite  of  several  efforts  to  capture  our  fresh  milk  market 
the  result  is  entirely  unimportant.  The  supply  of  condensed 
