C^7f9 '^iio fork Hate (EalUoe of Agrtrultttrp At OlDrnpU HHnivtrBit^ aitljara, N. 1. Hthrarg: DEVELOPMENT OF THE DAIRY INDUSTRY IN CANADA EYIDENOE OP MR. J. A. RUDDICK DAIRY AND COLD STORAGE COMMISSIONER BEFORE THE SELECT STANDING COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND, COLONIZATION .^ * ' / 1907-8 ^^f I ft-,- I ; PRINTED BY ORDER OF PARLIAMENT As advance sheets of the Committee's Final Report OTTAWA PRINTED BT C. H. PAEMELEE. PRINTER TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY 19 9 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003064205 8 EDWARD VII. APPENDIX No. 2 A. 1908 CONTENTS. DEVELOPMENT OF THE DAIRY INDUSTRY IN CANADA, pp. 99-111. Page. Growth of Co-operative Dairying in Canada 99 Cheese factories and Creameries m Canada, 1907 100 The Factory System does not Indicate GrowUi of the Industry 100 Exports years ending June 30, 1903, and March 31, 1908 101 Condensed milk 103 Imports and Exports of Condensed Milk 103 Estimated Total Value of the Annual Production of Milk and Milk Products in Canada 104 Value of the Creamery Butter and Cheese Produced in Certain Counties in 1907 105 Cow Testing Associations 106 Experiments in Caring for Milk 106 Markets for Dairy Produce 106 Shipment of Green Cheese 107 The Third International Dairy Congress. 109 MR. J. A. RUDDICK, DAIRY AND COLD STORAGE COMMISSIONEB 8 EDWARD VII. APPENDIX No. 2 A. 1908 DEVELOPMENT OF THE DAIRY llESTRY IN CANADA. House of Commons, Committee Room No. 34, Wednesday, July 8, 1908. The Select Standing Committee on Agriculture and Colonization met here this day at 10 o'clock, a.m., Mr. McKenzie, Chairman, presiding. The Chairman. — I have much pleasure in informing the committee that Mr. J. A. Kuddick, Dairy and Cold Storage Commisaioner, has come to-day to address us, as you will observe by the notices for this meeting, upon the subject of the 'Present Conditions of the Dairy Industry in Canada.' Mr. J. A. EuDDicK. — Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee, I am pleased to have this opportunity of putting before you a few facts concerning the dairying industry. It has been suggested to me that on this occasion I might confine my evidence to the present status of the dairy industry in Canada. In previous years I have covered the ground pretty well in regard to the work carried on by the branch of the Department of Agriculture, of which I have the honour to be the chief officer. GROWTH OF co-operative DAIRYING IN CANADA. First of all, I would draw the attention of the committee to the extent of the growth of the factory system of dairying in this country. If you will look at this map (indicating map on the wall), which has been published with the report of the Dairy and Cold Storage Commissioner for 1907, you will observe that it is nearly Covered in some places with red, green and blue dots.,The red dots represent cream-f eries, the blue cheese factories and the location of the combined factories is shown by green dots. Beginning in the east we find a number of factories in Prince Edward Island, a few in Nova Scotia and more again in New Brunswick. Passing into the province of Quebec, the factories are very numerous in the St. Lawrence valley and in the Eastern Townships. I would also draw your attention to the large number of cheese factories in the Lake St. John region. It will be observed also that there are a large number of creameries in the province of Quebec, especially in the Eastern Townships and on the north shore of the St. Lawrence immediately below Montreal. Many of the factories in Quebec are also combined factories, mak- ing both cheese and butter as circumstances seem to warrant. Passing westward into Ontario, the eastern portion is occupied almost entirely by cheese factories. There are a few combined factories and only a few creameries. Factory dairying has not developed much in the counties immediately around Toronto, but in southwestern Ontario, the home of the cheese factory, we find a large number of the largest factories in Canada. The northwestern counties of old Ontario, including Lambton, Grey and Bruce, constitute the principal butter-making district of Ontario, although the creameries are located in all the counties throughout the western peninsula. 2—8 99 100 DAIRY AND GOLD STORAGE COMMISSIONER 8 EDWARD VII., A. 1908 The factory system has been well established in Manitoba, where there are a num- ber of successful cheese factories and creameries. The farmers in the province of Saskatchewan have not yet shown much inclin- ation to take up dairy work, but northern Alberta is fast becoming one of the import- ant dairying districts of Canada, and there are now over 50 creameries in that part of the province. In British Columbia there are a number of well organized creameries doing a good business. As a matter of fact the creameries in British Columbia average as large as those in any other part of the country. The total number of cheese factories and creameries in Canada, by provinces, is as follows : — CHEESE FAOTORIES AND CREAMERIES IN CANADA, 1907. Province. Cheese Factories. Combined Cheese and Butter Factories. Creameries. Skimming Stations. Total. Ontario 1,096 1,K92 23 7 33 36 1 8 86 736 16 102 627 8 10 35 21 6 45 16 1,284 2,806 47 Quebec 51 Prince Edward Island Nova Scotia 17 New Brunswick 68 57 7 Saskatchewan Alberta 53 British Columbia 16 2,596 838 870 51 4,355 The first cheese factory ,as some of you know, was started in 1864 in Mr. Schell's constituency (South Oxford). There was another one started in Hastings county in 1866, and it is claimed that the first cheese factory in the Brockville district was started about the same time. The factory sytem grew rapidly from the first in west- ern and central Ontario. A cheese factory was started in Missisquoi county, Quebec, also in 1864, but the growth of the industry was very slow until after the year 188o' when the factory system spread rapidly over the settled portions of the whole province' THE FACTORY SYSTEM DOES NOT INDICATE GROWTH OF THE INDUSTRY. It has been the practice to estimate the progress of the dairy industry partly on the factory end of the business and partly on the export trade in butter and cheese While the growth of the population was small and the home consumption therefore about the same one year with another, the export figures indicated with fair accuraov the increased production from year to year, but during recent years the large annual increase in population, and the increased purchasing power of the people, have added so much to the home consumption that the former basis of calculation no Wi- ^ ir^ f^'cSalt^SZintLnrr^lft' "^^ ^^T^^ been reached in 1903 It has been though, by sor.:tjlZ:^\Tli^Zr'::::Z the export trade that the industry, as a whole, was declining I wi^h In^l f point out to the committee to-day that this conclusion is not'^iustified ' In 2 to" make this point clear I desire to submit the following figures:— DEYELOPMENT OF THE DAIRY INDUSTRY IN CANADA 101 APPENDIX No. 2 EXPORTS YEARS ENDING JUNE 80, 1903, AND MARCH 31, 1908. Lbs. Value. Cheese, 1903 229,099,925 $24,712,943 « 1908 189,987,365 22,887,337 Butter, 1903 34,128,944 6,954,618 « 1908 4,858,276 1,068,703 Condensed milk, 1903 3,083,810 242,539 « 1908 472,824 43,874 Total values of all products, 1903 $31,910,154 " " 1908 23,999,814 Decrease $ 7,910,340 It is true that these figures show that there has been a decline in five years in the value of the dairy products exported of $7,910,340, but against that decline the in- dustry may be credited with an increased consumption as follows : Increased consumption of: Milk $4,500,000 Butter (20 lbs. per head) 4,000,000 Cheese 200,000 •Condensed milk 300,000 $9,000,000 The above estimates of consumption are based on increased population only. By Mr. Schell (Oxf^d) : Q. This calculation is based entirely on the increased population? A. Tes, and does not take into account the increased purchasing power of the people generally, which, if the amount were known, would I feel certain be surpris- ingly large. Q. I think that would amount to at least 100 per cent, that is the increased pur- chasing power and the tendency to use more. A. And the tendency to use more butter because it is of better quality, is an important factor. By Mr. McGoll: Q. Perhaps with regard to butter that is not exactly correct. When a butter factory is established in a neighbourhood the farmers' wives who formerly made butter and brought it into the local market themselves, send their cream to the creamery, and then you get a record of it, but you would not have a record of the amount manufactured under ordinary circumstances? A. ■ These figures that I have given you are export figures only and there is a small amount of dairy butter included. By Mr. Brown: Q. In regard to the gathering of cream, do you thinlc it is ahead of the old system ? A. I do not think it is ahead of the separator system, but there are many dis- tricts in Canada where it is the only practical system. It has been adopted and it is 102 DAIRY AND COLD STORAGE COMMISSIONER 8 EDWARD VII., A. 1908 successful in these districts. But where the separator system is practicable, my advice is to stick to that system. By Mr. McGoll: Q. I have a butter factory recently established in my riding where they separate the milk on the farms, each farmer has a separator, and the reason they adopted that system is that they are enabled in that way to keep the separated milk at home and use it while it is fresh; it appears that if it is sent to the factory and separated there, if it stands for some time, it becomes deteriorated and it is not fit for the raising of calves ? A. Through the courtesy of Mr. Blue, the chief of the Census and Statistical Branch, I am able to give the committee some new figures relating to dairy produc- .tion. The Census Branch has just completed a return of the dairy industry in Canada for 1907, and in order to make a comparison the figures of the census of 1900, and also the figures of the census of manufactures which was taken in 1905 are given. The figures furnished by the Census Branch, as I have just stated, are as follows : — Creamery butter and cheese, value of $29,462,402 $32,402,265 $34,546,701 Condensed milk, value of. . . 269,520 855,409 910,842 Totals $29,731,922 $33,257,674 $35,457,543 Increase in seven years $5,725,621 Increase in last two years 2,199,869 This table does not include milk for direct consumption, nor does it include dairy butter, the value of which amounts to about $22,000,000. Therefore, I do not think there is any doubt that the dairy production has increased since 1900, to the extent at least of $10,000,000 or $12,000,000, which is very considerably more than the decline in the exports. Calculate it any way you like and you wiU find that the production is still increasing. I have noticed references in the press deploring the decline in, the export trade, on the assumption that the country is losing on that account. I do not take that view of it at all, it seems to me that there is quite as much money and just as good profit, in supplying the Canadian public with dairy produce as there is in supplying the people of any other country. Take the experience of the United States. At one time they exported a great deal more butter and cheese than we did, although their maximum never was as high as ours. At the present time, their export trade is almost nil, yet we find that they are continuing to increase their production very largely. The increase in the total value of the dairy products of the United States between 1900 and 1905 was 28 per cent; the total value in 1900 was $130,783,349, and in 1905 the total value was $168,182,789. One of the marked increases is in the growth of the condensed milk production; the total value of the condensed milk pro- duced in the United States in 1905 was $20,149,282, showing an increase in five years of 69-5 per cent. That leads me to say a word or two about the condensed milk industry m this country. I think it is likely to be a very much more important factor m our dairy trade than it has been in the past. It has been so small in the past that we have not paid very much attention to it, and we have not taken it into account m any calculation with regard to our dairying industry. DEVELOPMENT OF THE DAIRY IXDUm'RY IN CANADA 103 APPENDIX No. 2 CONDENSED MILK. By Mr. Smith (Oxford): Q. Will you indicate what condensed milk is and how it is made? A. There are two kinds made in Canada, ' sweetened ' and ' unsweetened.' In making the sweetened article, 400 lbs. of milk is condensed by evaporation to 100 lbs. and 75 lbs. of sugar is added, so that out of the 400 lbs. of milk you have 175 lbs. of sweetened condensed milk. The unsweetened milk is simply condensed to about the same proportion, perhaps a little thicker, because the sugar adds considerably to the consistency of the sweetened milk. They also make a condensed coffee, condensed cocoa and other drinks. In 1900 there were only four establishnlents in Canada turn- ing out $269,000 worth of condensed milk. This ifidustry has gradually increased and in 1908 there are nine or ten condensed milk factories in operation, and one powdered milk factory. It is stated that they will make considerably over $1,000,000 worth of condensed milk this year. By Mr. Schell (Oxford): Q. There is a factory in IngersoU which is taking in 10,000 gallons of milk worth $1,000 per day. A. The Aylmer establishment reports that they will turn out $400,000 worth this year. The growth of the condensed milk industry is shown by these figures: Condensed Milk. Establisbmente Value of product?. 1900. 4 $269,520 1905. 5 $856,409 1907. 7 $910,842 1908. Over 1 million. Imports and Exports of Condensed Milk. Imports Exports CoDBumed in Canada, 1900. $ 284,176 523,696 1905. $ 11,955 268,899 598,465 1908. 43,874 866,700 These figures give us an excellent idea of the development of this industry. In 1900 there was consumed in Canada condensed milk to the value of $523,696 and in 1905 the consumption had increased to $598,465, but in the year ending the 31st March, 1908, the consumption had increased to $866,700, which shows how our home consumption is increasing. If we had the actual figures of the home consumption, and the production of milk and milk products on farms in Canada, we would find 104 DAIRY AND COLD STORAGE COMMISSIONER 8 EDWARD VII., A. 1908 that the total volume of the trade is very much larger than most of ixs suppose it to be. I am pleased to say that the Census Bureau has undertaken to collect complete statistics of the question. I have made an estimate of the total value of the entire annual production of milk and milli products in Canada and I put it about like this: ESTIMATED TOTAL VALUE OP THE ANNUAL PRODUCTION OF MILK AND MILK PEODUCiTS IN CANADA. Creamery butter and cheese $36,000,000 Dairy butter 22,000,000 Condensed milk 1,000,000 Milk for direct consumption 35,000,000 $94,000,000 By Mr. Maclaren: Q. What do you value the milk at? For direct consumption? A. At twenty cents a gallon. Q. Will it go at that all over the country? A. I think it will, winter and summer. Of course it is very difficult to arrive at the total consumption of milk in Canada; I have tried two or three different ways of getting at it. In the first place we will take it on the basis of the consumption per head, and I have figured that the average consumption of milk would be about a half a pint per head per day. I find that in the city of London, England, with a popula- tion almost equal to the population of Canada, the total consimiption of milk is 112,000,000 gallons per year. They have the figures of all the milk brought into the city each day. Q. What is the average figure of production per cow? A. It has been figured at about 3,000 lbs., but I think it is slightly above that. Our records would show that it is. By Mr. McOoll: Q. You say that you have taken the milk at 20 cents per gallon, that will be the average price to the consumer, not to the producer. A. To the producer. Q. To the farmer? A. I think it will average that. Of course it does not average that if the milk is sold at the factory, but for milk used for direct consumption will. A great many of the producers sell it direct to the consumer, and others sell it to the dealers in the city, and I think that is a pretty fair price. In some parts of the country consumers are paying much higher prices. By Mr. Maclaren: Q. A cow is a pretty good machine to have according to those figures at the present time? A. The cow is all right. I have some other fig^ures which I have taken from the recent census: DEVELOPMENT OF THE DAIRY INDUSTRY IN CANADA 105 APPENDIX No. 2 VALUE OF THE CREAMERY BUTTER AND CHEESE PRODUCED IN CERTAIN COUNTIES IN 1907. County. Number of Factories. Vahie of Creamery Butter and Cheese produced. Area of County in acres. Production of Creamery Butter and Cheese per acre. Ontario. Oxford BO 91 90 70 74 69 164 52 $ 1,461,333 1,266,421 1,262,598 1,034,798 590,159 546,809 750,362 653,374 489,300 1,486,700 576,000 245,200 260,600 316,350 1,210,266 363,008 $ ctg. 2 98 Hastings Leeds 85 2 19 Oundas Russell 4 22 2 26 Prescott Quebec. 1 72 62 Shefford 1 79 Thus we find there are four counties in Ontario which produce over a million dollars worth of creamery butter and cheese in a year. At the top of the list is the county of Oxford which produced $1,461,333 worth of butter and cheese, mainly cheese, last year. I think it is a record for that county and a record for any county in Canada. In one important respect Dundas county leads them all, and that is in the high production per acre. I have given the whole area of the county in each case. Oxford and Dundas are pretty good counties with very little, if any, waste land. The county of Hastings, on the other hand, has a good deal of waste land and water surfaces and there is a considerable area in the north in which there are no factories. The yield for that county is only 85 cents per acre. The county of Dundas, which is probably the greatest district in Canada for the production of milk, produced cheese and creamery butter to the value of $4.22 per acre. The county of Russell produced only $2.2€ per acre. Then in the province of Quebec the county of Shefford, one of the best counties, produced $1.Y9 per acre. There is also a large amount of waste land in Shefford. By Mr. Maclaren (Perth): Q. What about the milk in that county, are they converting it into butter and cheese or sending it into the city? A. They are making both butter and cheese, more butter than cheese. That is what they are doing this year. Last year they probably produced more cheese than butter. Q. Are there any condensed milk factories in that part of the province? A. Not in Shefford. There are two condensed miUj factories in the province of Quebec, one in Huntingdon and one in L'Assomption. Q. How do you find these condensed milk factories affecting the cheese and butter factories in the different parts of the Dominion? A. The condensed milk factories pay more money for milk than cheese factories can do and they are taking the milk away from where they are established. Q. They are closing up the cheese and butter factories ? A. Tes, to some extent. Q. When farmers have the opportunity of selling to condensed milk factories it increases the value of the milk? A. It does, but it is only in a very small proportion of the whole. 106 DAIRY AND COLD STORAGE OOMMISSIONEB 8 EDWARD VI U A. 1908 Q. That helps to put Oxford county at the head of the list? A. I think it would be there even if all the milk were made into cheese. cow TESTING ASSOCUTIONS. I have not very much more time and I want to refer briefly to one phase of the work which my branch of the department is carrying on at the present time. I quoted some figures to show you the difference in production in different parts of the country. I might go further than that and quote the records of the Cow Testing Associations and show that there is a tremendous difference in the yield per cow in different sections of Canada. We are getting some of the very best records from the county of Oxford, where one of these associations is organized. We are trying to carry this information to the farmers in other parts of the country, where they are not producing as much as they should, in order to show them how they can improve the profits from dairying by giving more attention to improving their herds. We have during the last four or five years been organizing the dairy farmers into asso- ciations for the purpose of weighing and testing the yields of the individual cows in their herds and I think we have been fairly successful in this work. I will not trouble you with any details of the work this morning but simply give you an idea of how far it has been organized. There are this year in operation 82 associations located as follows: In Ontario 31, Quebec 31, New Brunswick 10, Prince Edward Island 2, British Columbia Y, Nova Scotia 1. We have not done anything in the three prairie provinces because the local governments there are doing that work. We have, however, been giving them some assistance. Q. How many are there altogether? A. Eighty-two. The total number of cows tested in June was Y,817. We find that besides the members of these associations, a very large number of individual farmers throughout the country have taken this matter up on their own account, and I feel confident that in a very short time it will have a very profound effect upon the production of milk in this country. EXPERIMENTS IN CAKING FOR MILK. There is another way in which we hope to increase the profits from milk produc- tion, in connection with the cheese factories, by getting more accurate and definite information as to how milk should be handled at the farms to produce the most cheese of the best quality. Therefore, I have arranged with the owners of a cheese factory at Smith's Falls to have members of my staff carry on there an extensive series of experiments in the handling of milk on the farm ; handling the milk as it is very often, too often, done, and then handling it by proper methods in order to deter- mine the difference in the quality and the increased amount of cheese made from the milk when properly handled. I think this information, which will be available for distribution among the farmers, will be of very great benefit indeed. I must feay that there has been in the past a good deal of guesswork in advising the dairymen as ta how milk should be taken care of. It is only within the last few years that science has besn brought to bear on the question through the study of bacteriology. Before that no rule prevailed, it was simply rule of thumb methods that were followed and tnere was no accurate information concerning it. MARKETS FOR DAIRY PRODUCE, I would like to say a word about the markets for Canadian dairy produce Great Bntam will always be our principal market. We have a very good market for a comparatively smaU quantity in the West Indies. Our friends in the Maritima DEVELOPMENT OF THE DAIRY INDUSTRY IN CANADA 107 APPENDIX No. 2 Provinces have taken advantage of that market and are supplying it with a good article. They practically control the trade in many of the islands and adjacent countries. There is another opening for a small quantity of butter in the Orient, and the Western Provinces are sending some butter to that market. But Great Britain is bound to be the principal market, and as it is the best in the world there is no reason why we should not devote our chief attention to meeting the demand there. SHIPMENT OP GREEN CHEESE. Q. Ton are supplying that market with green cheese. Why not stop that practice ? A. I think we have succeeded in checking that practice this season. Q. Is there no arrangement whereby the government can interfere so as to compel people not to ship their cheese from factories under a certain age, or has any action been taken in the matter? I think it is a most serious question. Some of us have spent our lives in trying to improve the quality and raise the reputation of Canadian cheese, and when success has been attained careless people endanger that reputation and ruin the market by sending over the product in a green state. I think something should be done to stop it? A. I quite agree with Mr. Maclaren that something should be done. I do not see very well how it can be made a matter of direct legislation. It is impossible for anyone to say just how long cheese should remain in the factory. Q. Certainly cheese should remain more than one day in the factory. A. Some cheese cure much more rapidly than others, depending on the tempera- ture and the way the cheese is made. Certain cheese would be more ready to ship in 10 days than others would be in 3 weeks. I think the matter might be controlled if a law were enacted to compel the cheesemaker to put the day and the month of manufacture on the cheese. Q. We have that law now have we not? A. It is only permissible, it is not compulsory. It is against the law to make any misrepresentations as to the date of manufacture but there is nothing to compel the dating of aU cheese. If all cheese and the packages were dated, then the man who receives them on the other side of the Atlantic would know what was the matter with them if they were too new. If such a law were enacted it would make a good deal of difficulty in the trade for a year or two, but I believe in the end it would work out well and would put a stop to the practice of shipping the cheese in too green a .condition. The dating of cheese has been urged on other grounds with which I have not been in sympathy, but this question puts a new face on the matter. I might say that this year there has not been nearly as much fault to find with green cheese ship- ments "= there has been in the last two years. The milk producers themselves, the patrons of factories, are beginning to see it is in their interest to look after these things. They are beginning to see that they will be the losers in the end if anything is done to injure the market. I have referred at length to this question in all my recent reports and have taken every possible means of warning the producers against a continuance of the practice. I beg to submit a copy of the last circular issued in relation to this question.- (Circular.) 'Department op Agriculture. 'Branch op the Dairy and Cold Storage Commissioner, 'the shipping of green cheese. ' To whom it may concern : 'The writer has lost no opportunity during the past two years of calling attention to the danger of injuring the Canadian cheese trade by the practice of 3—9 108 DAIRY AND GOLD STORAGE COMMISSIONER 8 EDWARD VII., A. 1908 shipping the cheese in a green condition. The question is treated at some length in my last annual report, where I was able to quote the opinions of leading mer- chants in Great Britain, all opposed to the practice. 'I am now able to quote from communications on the subject recently addressed to the Honourable Mr. Fisher, Minister of Agriculture, by The Home and Foreign Produce Exchange of London, England, and The Bristol Provision Trade Association, in words which would indicate that harm has already been done to the cheese trade by this " penny wise, pound foolish " practice. 'The first-mentioned association writes in part as follows: " London, May 2nd, 1908. "Importers of Canadian cheese into London met in conference to consider what steps should be taken to bring into prominence the damage which is being occasioned to the reputation of Canadian cheese owing to the persistent practice on the part of Factorymen of sending out their makes before the goods have had time to mature, and I have been instructed to lay the matter before you in the hope that prompt and efficient steps may be taken to effect a remedy. It is unquestionable that there is an increasing tendency for makers to get quit of their cheese as quickly as possible. In a great many instances goods are moved out much too soon, in some cases even within two or three days of manu- facture. The result has been that the natural process of maturing has been arrested and such cheese arrive here insipid in flavour and in a condition which reflects anything but credit upon the product. In addition to this, the excessive moisture militates severely against the sale. In no circmnstances should cheese be allowed to leave the Factory until ten days after manufacture. That is the minimum of time which should elapse before the goods are moved, and unless stringent measures are adopted to prevent the Factorymen sending their cheese out earlier, the position of the Canadian article on the London market will becon[ie depreciated." ' The foregoing is from a body of merchants who handle nearly one-half of the cheese exported from Canada. ' The Bristol Provision Trade Association's letter contains the following sentence : " This means the forcing into consumption of immature, or in other words, inferior cheese, resulting in widespread dissatisfaction. Needless to say, the tendency of this is to bring Canadian cheese into disfavour, and if persisted in, it is bound greatly to curtail consumption." * It would seem to be unnecessary to add anything to these statements made by those who are in the best position to speak with authority on the question. ' I would only say that while I was in Great Britain last fall, I found plenty of evidence to prove that the trade has already been injured by the unbusiness- like policy of shipping the cheese before they are fit to eat. Whenever this ques- tion is brought up among dairymen, there seems to be an inclination to put the blame on the buyer and let it go at that. The buyers are certainly responsible for encouraging the movement of green cheese, but the dairymen who have been the losers, and who will be the losers again, should not allow their business to be injured in this way. J. A. RtJDDICK, Dairy and Gold Storage Commissioner Ottawa, Out., May 19, 1908.' Now to return to the question of markets. I notice there is very often a ten- dency to discuss a great many things in connection with the marketing of cheese and butter, but the more experience I have of this question and the more information I DEVELOPMENT OF TEE DAIRY INDUSTRY IN CANADA 109 APPENDIX No. 2 get regarding it, the more I am convinced that there is only one thing that is of any real importance. The channels of trade are well organized, there is no difSculty about the shipping of produce, the transportation facilities are excellent, and all the machinery for the export and for trading in dairy products is well organized between this country and Great Britain — splendidly organized. There is only one thing that producers need give special attention to and that is to make an article of superior quality. If they do that, there will be no trouble about selling at the highest market value at all times. People worry themselves about whether we shall have cheese boards or farmers' exchanges, or whether we shall have inspection here or inspection there; it does not amoimt to anything at all compared with what I have mentioned. Q. What is the good of making the quality of the highest possible grade when people are shipping cheese that is only a day old? A. That is being stopped. Now, as I have only about ten minutes more, I would like to tell the committee something about the International Dairy Congress which was held at the Hague last September and which I attended as representative of this country. THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL DAIRY CONGRESS. I have prepared for my annual report, which is now in the press, a full account of this meeting containing all the resolutions which were given effect to by the various sections. Q. When will that report be out? A. I do not know. It is now in the hands of the King's Printer. I might say that this was a very interesting meeting. Some 26 different countries were repre- sented by official delegates, and there were voluntary delegates from societies and different interests making up a total of about 600. The official language was French, but discussions were carried on in English, Dutch, German and French. To give you an idea of the international character of the meeting let me tell you that at the Congress banquet there were 22 nationalities represented and the chairman spoke in 7 languages. The most interesting and useful feature of the Congress to me was to meet so many men from different parts of the world engaged in the same line of work as myself. I think that is the chief value of these gatherings. The actual pro- ceedings are often unimportant, and I noticed in this case that the resolutions, before they were finally passed, were generally amended to meet the different views until there was not very much in them. The discussions were rather of a cut and dried character as far as the programme was concerned; but the meeting together of dele- gates, the discussions in the hotels, and the excursions taken with different people from all over the civilized world — these things were all very interesting and very valuable. The committee in charge organized a large number of excursions covering nearly the whole of Holland. Of course, in view of the small extent of country, that is not a very big undertaking, but we spent some most interesting days visiting the different dairying districts. Dairying is the national industry of Holland and although the country is only about as big as that part of Ontario lying west and south of a line drawn from Southampton to Toronto, they export just about as much dairy pro- duce as we do and feed over five millions at home, nearly as large a population as our own. They exported in 1906, $2Y,042,432 worth of butter and cheese. Of course, the Dutch people do not eat as much butter as we do, because they consume a large quantity of margarine, the manufacture of which is a big industry in that country. We visited some of the large farms and the creamery districts. I would like to have every owner of a cheese factory and creamery in Canada see some of the buildings in that country. I saw buildings in Friesland that cost $50,000, creamery buildings erected by the farmers themselves. They organize co-operative associations and 110 DAIRY AND COLD STORAGE COMMISSIONER 8 EDWARD VII., A. 1908 borrow the money to pay for those buildings and then repay the loan at the rate of about one-fiftieth every year until fully repaid. They have no share capital but become each and severally responsible for the loan and repay it out of the profits of the creamery. By Mr. Mclntyre (Perth): Q. I suppose the cleanliness was very noticeable? A. Decidedly so. I visited farms where the cows are kept in one room of the house, animals and family all under one roof. That is in the winter time, of course, in the summer time they are out on pasture. The room which was set aside for the cows was right alongside of the kitchen and the kitchen door opened into it. In the summer time then they make cheese, they use the stable as a cheese curing room, and make the cheese in a little room next to the kitchen. The stable is finished with glazed earthenware and was as clean as it could possibly be. There were lace curtains on the windows and everything w£is as neat as you could possibly imagine. Those are the old Dutch farms. I saw one modern stable near Amsterdam in which there were 200 cows kept to supply milk for that city. For cleanliness, convenience and appearance, I have never seen anything better than this stable. The cows were of Dutch breed similar to the Holsteins, but rather coarser. The Hollanders say that the black and white cows in America are Dutch and not Holstein. The Holsteins come from that part of Germany which adjoins 'the mainland of Denmark. I saw the record at one creamery where 1,150 cows averaged over 8,000 lbs. of milk a year. Of course, they have marvellous pastures in that low-lying country where the water line is only about 2 feet below the surface. Q. Are the cattle limited to certain parts of the pasture or do they wander over the whole field? A. In HoUand the cattle wander over the whole field. In some parts of Europe they are tethered, particularly in Denmark where they have no fences, but in Holland the ditches and canals take the place of fences. The country is divided into small plots in that way. By Mr. Telford: Q. Is any part of the country irrigated? A. There is none of it that you would call irrigated. There are large districts known as polders, which are really below the level of the sea. These areas have been reclaimed by the erection of great dykes which keep back the sea. These wonderful Dutchmen are now at work reclaiming the Zuider Zee in this manner. These low- lying districts are drained only by means of a system of pumps, which keep the water down to a certain level— about two feet below the surface. You will understand therefore, that drought is unknown. I do not think there is very much in the methods' or practices of any of these countries which can be blindly copied in Canada, but there are many things we can learn from the Dutch farmers. The wonderful economies which they practice in many ways would be a very good object lesson to some of our Canadian farmers. I do not mean the economy of doing without things but rather the economy of utilizing waste spaces and materials. Their labour con- ditions are quite different, and that must alwaya be taken into account Labour is very cheap there and the women do a great deal of work on the farm, so that we can not apply their methods to our conditions in this country. I might say for the information of the committee, because I think you take some interest in immiCTation matters, that there is a desire on the part of many Dutch farmers to come to this country. I found a good deal of interest was being taken in Canada. Whenever I was introduced as the representative of Canada I could see that people becami interested at once. I had a letter from a friend of mine in Holland the othe^d^J DEVELOPMENT OF TEE DAIRY INDUSTRY IN CANADA 111 APPENDIX No. 2 asking me if I thought he would be justified in accepting a commission from the Dutch government to come over here and look into Northwest lands, as there were a large number of their farmers — men possessed of money who could not buy land in Holland because there is no land available — and who would like to come to Canada. I don't think we could do better than encourage these Dutch farmers to come here. Mr. Maclaren (Perth). — There is lots of room in Ontario and Quebec for dairy farmers. Mr. RuDDiCK. — I do not know that I have anything more to say unless members of the committee would like to ask questions. Mr. Maclaren (Perth). — There is a gentleman here from New Zealand. In that country they are producing a lot of cheese. Are they going to swamp us? ^Ir. RuDDicK. — I do not think so. A good deal has been said about the supply of cheese on the British market from New Zealand last winter and certainly the per- centag3 increase is very considerable. I think it amounts to about YO per cent over their previous year's record. That amounts to only 160,000 boxes of cheese, but the shrinkage in butter more than makes up for liie extra shipments of cheese. The tendency now is to go back to butter. Many factories have found they made a mis- take in establishing cheese plants and making cheese last year and they are going back again to butter because it now gives relatively a better price. I do not think it is likely there will be very much of a permanent increase in the exports of cheese from New Zealand. There is no doubt it did have some influence on the market last year, and I think it cost some of the big holders in London considerable money to buy up the New Zealand cheese on the market in order to keep up the price. Having read over the preceding transcript of my evidence, I certify the same to be correct. J. A. ruddice:. Dairy and Cold Storage Commissioner. 2—10 Development of the dairy industry in Can 3 1924 003 064 205 ™„ Ill :l