HOME CONSUMPTION VS. EXPORTS.
But it should be borne in mind that in 1850 very nearly all our dairy products were consumed at home; whereas in 1880, we exported a large amount. As the exports do not all come in the year of production, we will take the average amount of exports for 1879 and 1880:
| Lbs. Butter. | Lbs. Cheese. | ||
| Exports, | 1879 | 38,248,016 | 141,654,474 |
| " | 1880 | 39,236,658 | 127,553,907 |
| ————— | ————— | ||
| Divided by | 2) | 77,484,674 | 269,208,381 |
| ————— | ————— | ||
| Yearly average | 38,742,337 | 134,604,190 | |
| Add butter and cheese together | 38,742,337 | ||
| ————— | |||
| We have a yearly av. export of | 173,346,527 | ||
pounds of product. If we take this from the total product
| of 1880 | 1,049,829,921 | pounds | |||
| 173,346,527 | pounds | ||||
| —————— | |||||
| we have | 876,483,394 | pounds |
of product for home consumption, or more than five times as much as we export. This is a consumption of 17.47 pounds per capita for our 50,155,783 inhabitants, or .59 of a pound less than in 1850, when it was 18.60 pounds per capita. Does not this indicate the folly of catering for a foreign market to the neglect of our own?
FORMS OF MILK CONSUMPTION.
It is estimated by good judges that 45 per cent. of our milk product is consumed in its natural state, 50 per cent. is used in butter making, and 5 per cent. is made into cheese. The fact of there being a foreign demand for so large a proportion of our cheese, has led everybody astray, and magnified the cheese factory into the position of supreme importance.
THE PRIVATE DAIRY VS. THE FACTORY.
Let us again turn to the census of 1880, and see how the factory product compares in amount and importance with the product of the private dairy. It appears by the census of 1880 that the number of pounds of dairy products made in factories was as follows: