SECRETARY'S REPORT. gy 



Now, although the character of the pasturage upon which cows 

 are kept unquestionably has some efiect on the quality of the 

 cheese produced from it, yet quality does not depend chiefly, nor 

 even largely upon it ; very Utile indeed compared with skill in manu- 

 facture. We have the authority of those who have paid the closest 

 attention to the subject in asserting that " high priced cheese can 

 be made in any locality, whatever the character of the pasturage 

 may be, where an industrious and skillful hand, and an observing 

 and intelligent head presides over the operation."* Mr. Fulton, 

 residing near Glasgow, who has paid much attention to improve- 

 ments in the dairy, and is the writer of a prize report on the com- 

 parative merits of the Cheddar and Dunlop methods of cheese- 

 making, says, " The superior quality of English over Scotch cheese 

 has hitherto been attributed to the pastures, but the fact is now 

 satisfactorily attested, indeed, it has been proved to a demonstra- 

 tion, that the character is chiefly determined by the mode of manufac- 

 ture." Mr. Joseph Harding, of Somersetshire, who has probably 

 done as much, if not more, than any other man in England to im- 

 prove the manufacture of cheese, and who with his wife has been 

 successfully engaged in teaching improved methods in Scotland, 

 where in consequence the amount and quality of Scottish cheese 

 has lately been greatly enhanced, at a recent meeting there in 

 connection with an exhibition, said, " As you remember, when we 

 were in Ayrshire we made cheese in different parts of the county, 

 and on all kinds of land. When we had finished there were about 

 twenty cheese altogether, and when we left I looked at them care- 

 fully, and I think no person could have picked out one cheese and 

 said it was not like its fellow. I sent three of them home to my 

 own cheese room to have them properly tested when they came of 

 age. One of them was cut up by my friend Mr. Tilley, and he did 

 not know but it was one that had been manufactured in my own 

 dairy. I was satisfied that whether we made cheese at Dalgig 

 among the mountains, at Cuming Park amongst irrigated grass, or 

 among the heather at Corwar, where Mr. Wason is making the 

 desert to blossom as the rose, there was no material difference 

 whatever. My opinion is, that good cheese, with good manage- 

 ment, in the hands of a person who has something in the upper 



* Dr. Augustus Voelcker in Journal Royal Agricultural Society. 



