1 Ocr., 1897.) QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 309 
that one feature which is more or less common to them all is the concentration 
of the manufacture of butter and cheese in large dairies and factories, co- 
operative or otherwise, drawing their supplies of the raw product from a 
number of farms situated within a convenient radius, In the greater number 
of these establishments the whole of these processes of manufacture are 
carried out on the premises, but some of them are equipped only for the 
manipulation of the cream, and in Normandy and Brittany the butter factories 
confine their operations to the blending and grading of the manufactured 
product. The object of all is, however, the same—viz., the production of an 
article of uniform quality and appearance at the lowest possible cost; and the 
facts illustrated by our import statistics afford primd facie evidence that the 
factory system has worked with success abroad, especially in countries where 
it is combined with co-operative principles, of which Denmark is a notable 
example. Attention may also be directed to the progress of co-operative 
dairying in Ireland. According to the latest report of the Irish Agricultural 
Organisation Society, the dairy societies or ereameries in Ireland now number 
93, including 10 auxiliaries or branches, with a total shareholding 
membership of 8,750. The quantity of butter produced by the societies in 1896 
amounted to 2,791 tons, and the average price realised was 95s. 8d. per ewt. 
The average price paid for milk supplied by the shareholders was 3°55d. per 
gallon. 
