PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION. 



WELL-NIGH forty years have elapsed since my pen sprang to 

 paper, on the subject of dairying, and of dairy farming 

 generally. The progress made in everything relating to milk 

 is phenomenal, during the period denoted ; yet, for all that, 

 the state of transition, to which we have been accustomed since 

 the early 'seventies of the nineteenth century, is not by any 

 means near the end. 



Since the 'seventies indicated came upon us, vast innova- 

 tions and developments have been initiated in the domain of 

 dairying, and these are still a long way from full fruition. But 

 when we think of Creameries and Cheeseries, and of the 

 colossal trade in country milk for urban consumption, we infer 

 that a vast amount of work of a transitional nature has already 

 been accomplished. And, so far as these things go, a very 

 considerable and highly important transformation has at all 

 events proceeded up to a given point. 



These matters appertain to what we may call the practice 

 of dairying, and they might be added to in one way or another. 

 Meanwhile science has not been inert in respect to milk, its 

 manipulation and its products. To enumerate all that has 

 been done in the way of scrutiny and experiment would be 

 impossible within the scope of a preface. I will therefore be 

 content with denoting what will ultimately become, so far as we 

 can see at present, the predominant scientific feature in if I 

 may adapt two words which, in this form, ought to become 

 useful and convenient to dairyers who make cheese and butter 

 in the art and practice of cheesing 'and buttering. I refer now 



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