ABSTRACT
The making of butter and the rearing of young cattle were the twin bases of agriculture in Cork and Munster during the second half of the nineteenth century. The profits of dairy farmers were further reduced by the first significant break in the trend of rising butter prices between 1861 and 1863, when the market for Irish butter in Australia collapsed. Arthur Young discovered that the dairyman system was widespread in Munster when he made his famous tour in the late 1770s. The Cork Examiner fixed the loss in income from butter at nearly £500,000, or about 8 per cent of the estimated total value of Irish production. Besides resisting the subdivision of small holdings, Cork landlords and agents pursued other policies which promoted economic progress. There was in fact a distinct quickening of landlord interest and investment in agriculture after 1850.
