CHEESE TAINTS NOT DUE TO PASTORAGE 



cheese was made, the quantity of bad cheese 

 was out of all proportion to what it should be. 

 Taints were prevalent without in most cases 

 makers having any knowledge as to how they 

 were produced or how they could be prevented. 

 Often the cause was put down to the nature of 

 the land on which the cows fed, and farms were 

 frequently condemned as unfit for dairying on 

 this account. All the Society's investigations, 

 however, go to show that the land had no more, 

 as Koko would put it, "to do with the case " 

 than " the flowers that bloom in the spring " 

 had to do with his matrimonial future. The 

 Society when it annually set up its Cheese School 

 looked out not for a farm which had the repu- 

 tation of being a good one for cheese-making, 

 but for one of evil character in this respect, and 

 in such cases the price made by the Society's 

 cheese was quite sufficient to show that the land 

 had not been the offending party in the past. 

 For three consecutive years the school was 

 located in a district where it was said that the 

 land prevented the making of good cheese. In 

 each case analysis of the soil failed to show the 

 presence of any chemical constituent \vhich 

 would be injurious to the milk or the cheese 

 made therefrom, whilst from a careful exami- 

 nation of the pastures it was equally clear that 

 no vegetable growth that could possibly injure 

 the milk or the cheese was included in them. 

 The evidence accumulated by the Society has 

 done something to controvert this ancient tradi- 

 tion, particularly prevalent in Somerset. Insuffi- 

 cient skill in carrying out the necessary processes 



129 K 



