134 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



THE DAIRY. 

 FRANKLIN. 



[From the Report of the Committee on Butter and Cheese.] 



Your Committee found, when they entered upon their 

 duties, eighteen packages of butter for their examination, 

 and thirteen of cheese, showing a commendable interest in 

 a goodly number of the members of our society to sustain 

 the reputation we have gained in this department of our 

 exhibition. All these packages presented a neat and tidy 

 appearance, and should be pronounced good ; but, when 

 tested, they proved to possess varying degrees of merit. 

 We indicated them by affixing the society's prepared labels 

 to those packages which in our judgment were deserving the 

 greatest merit. 



In making our decisions and affixing the awards, we did 

 not take into consideration the various methods pursued in 

 their preparation, nor the class of cows of which these were 

 the natural products ; but we were guided solely by their 

 intrinsic merits as they appeared to us, and rendered our 

 judgment accordingly : and this was done after an ever 

 varying and diverse criterion. We carefully tasted evevy 

 entry ; and that which left in the mouth and throat the most 

 pleasant and agreeable sensation, or, when used as food, could 

 be regarded as a real luxury, we decided took precedence 

 over all others, and so received the first award, and the- 

 others by the same rule in their relatively descending order. 



In bestowing the first and second premiums upon both the 

 butter and cheese, we found such a slight shade of difference 

 in taste and flavor, as they were so nearly alike, that it was. 

 only after the most patient and discriminating testing that 

 we could decide which deserved the title of best and better ; 

 but after that was done the work was comparatively easy. 



Why it was so is also very easy for us to state. It was, 



