374 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 June, 1919. 



than in normal times, particularly those of the quick-ripening variety. 

 The blue-veined varieties, such as Stilton and Wensleydale, cannot be 

 regarded as so profitable to make as the hard-pressed varieties, like 

 Cheddar and Cheshires. When one considers that 1 lb. of ordinary 

 chee^.e may be produced from 1 gallon of milk, and that it "vvill require 

 2J gallons of similar milk to make 1 lb. of butter, it is surprising that 

 so much butter is made, except where a large number of calves are to be 

 reared on skimmed milk. 



It has always been recognised that the Ayrshire is a typical type 

 of animal for cheese-making, and while other breeds like the Shorthorn, 

 the milk of which is equally low in butter-fat, are also suited for this 

 purpose, cheese-makers are apt to think that the use of rich milk in 

 cheese-making amounts to so much waste. There was, however, a very 

 interesting collection of cheeses exhibited at the Highland Agricultural 

 Show when held at Glasgow many years ago, and these cheeses were 

 made from milk containing varying percentages of butter-fat, from 2 

 per cent, upwards, and the difference in size, and quantity versus 

 quality in the milk yield of the cow is always a matter of importance to 

 the farmer, and we all know how difficult it is to combine both. Fortu- 

 nately, cheese-making is now more profitably conducted, and those who 

 have turned their energies in this direction are only too eager and in- 

 terested to study anything bearing on this industry in which they are 

 employed. Where this matter of rich milk has been put to the test, 

 it is found that not only does the richer milk produce cheeses of higher 

 quality, but of greater weight, and very different to the more ordinary 

 Cheddars, for example, made from average quality shorthorn milk con- 

 taining 3.5 per cent, or thereabouts of butter-fat. The percentage of 

 casein in milk bears a practically uniform relation to the percentage of 

 fat. Thus milk which is rich in fat is usually rich in casein. It is 

 important to notice that where the milk employed in making 

 cheese is rich, the percentage of fat lost in the process of 

 manufacture, and which passes into the whey, is smaller than where the 

 milk used is poor in fat. When cheese was made from rich and poor 

 milk respectively for a period of fifteen days, the milk of the Shorthorns, 

 which contained a low percentage of fat, produced 1 lb. of cheese from 

 11.3 lbs. of milk, whereas the milk from the Jersey cows required to make 

 1 lb. of cheese was only 8.1 lbs. Again, to quote another instance, in 

 which milk containing 4.5 per cent, of fat was used, the average yield of 

 chce-e per 100 lbs. of milk was 12.35 lbs., or a fraction more than 8 lbs. 

 of milk to each 1 lb. of cheese. It is worthy to remark that where rich 

 milk is used, the proportion of water present in the cheese is greater than 

 where poor milk is used. Thus, with an increase of fat in the milk, 

 there is an increase in the water content of the cheese, and consequently 

 in its weight, l^or this reason cheese made from rich milk gains weight 

 from three sources — from the increased quantity of casein, the increased 

 weight of fat, and, lastly, the increased quantity of water. It is well 

 known to cheese-makers that the solid matter of milk which 

 finds its way into the cheese consists almost entirely of fat and 

 casein, and yet the solid matter lost or carried off in the whey is practi- 

 cally equal to the solids which have been removed in the curd. Thus, in 

 referring to most reliable records, we find that the total weight of solids 



