almost all the butter and cheese produced in this country was
made on the individual farms, but about that time the farmers
commenced to establish co-operative dairies carried on according
to the so-called cold-water system by which better and more
uniform products were obtained. These co-operative dairies now
exist in about' one half of the parishes of the country to the
number of 650; and it is estimated that they deal with somewhat
more than 220,000 gallons of milk daily. Most of them
are provided with separators and ah entirely up, to date equipment;
and the yield is partly sold in the English market at the
highest prices there obtainable. Cheese dairies exist in a smaller
number, around the Kristiania Ejord and the Trondhjem Fjord,
but they have not as yet succeeded in producing a cheese which
satisfies the .requirements of foreign markets. At Hamar, Kap
on Toten and at Sannesund there are large milk-condensing factories,
of which the production goes almost entirely to foreign
markets.
Many of the farmers in the valleys and on the plains are
owners of portions of the more or less barren mountain plateaus
where during the summer good grazing may be found.
Here we find the Sceter or mountain outfarms which are characteristic
annexes of many of the Itiorwegian farms.
When the spring field-work at home has been finished and
vegetation in the mountains has progressed so far that' the animals
can find the necessary food, the dairy-maid, and in certain districts
the farmer with his whole household, goes with the .cattle to
the outfarm. The latter may he 10, 30 or even 50 miles
distant, and sometimesit requires several days to reach this
destination through trackless regions. The houses are as a rule
small and low; one for the domestic animals, another serving
as dwelling for the family, and also containing the dairy, and
finally, one or more small hay-lofts. In the immediate neighbourhood
of" the houses, a piece of the ground has been cleared
and fenced in, and herq, the manure gathered in the course
of the summer ‘is spread. A fine and nourishing grass grows
here which is mown, and in the course of the winter brought
home to the farm. During the two or three months • the
cattle stay at the outfarm, butter and cheese are produced.
About the first of September, when the cold nights commence
to make themselves felt in the mountains, the dairy