The Ellesmere Guardian. SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 1891. A NEEDED ENTERPRISE.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume X, Issue 922, 27 June 1891, Page 2

The Ellesmere Guardian. SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 1891. A NEEDED ENTERPRISE.

Thb farmer who is the owner of a few good cows just now has not much to grdmble at, considering the price at which butter is now being retailed. It is difficult to get a really good sample to day under one shilling and twopence or one shilling and threepence, eren from the dairyman. If to this we add cost of carriage and retailer's profits it is not hard to understand that Chris tchurb consumers will hare to pay about eighteen pence a pound for best fresh butter. But winter weather doesnot last all the year round, and it takes the high prices of these few months to keep the dairj man's average at anything like a reasonable figure. It is surprising that no combined effort has yet been made m this district to maintain a steady supply of butter. It is a commodity which is always m demand, and always, if properly handled, commands a fairly re munerative price. The production o! the colony is of course far too large fo r home consumption, but the exportation is not a success unless it is managed m a thoroughly business like manner. When dairymen ship small parcels independently of each other, the expenses take away the profit. .If exporters buy from them, the varying quality of the butter, u-pending as it does on the feed of the cows, the method of making, and; other causes, prevents the h'st prices from being obtained. Further, such a method of selling is unfair all round. The dairyman with good cows, who is an experienced butter maker, and who takes pride m his dairy, has his butter, shipped m |he same consignment with some other farmer whose knowledge is le s, or whose methods are not co unobjectionable. The good and bad are averaged, aud the best brings no more than the worst. The remedy tor the ex.sting state of affairs is the establish-, ment of a dairy factory. Such have been already established m most districts m the colony, and are not onl*» paying expenses, but m many instances, making money,. Factory butter always commands a better price than the farmer's make ; it is of uniform quality, and is manufactured with the aid of etrery appliance that modern scienca can devise. The price which the farmers obtain for their milk is not very high, it is true, but it gives a fair profit, and all the work and worry of churning and butter making is taken off their shoulders We feel sure that were an enterprise of the kin . started here it would be en thusiastioally supported by the farmers of the district, and that guarantees of a sufficient supply of milk to k«ep the factory m full work would be forthcoracoming at once.