n6 



BRITISH DAIRYING. 



the minds of those who have had opportunities of judging: so 

 far particularly as " body " is concerned, while as to flavour 

 and colour they are certainly second to none. Tempered by 

 the genial breath of the Gulf Stream, the climate of Ireland has 

 all the mildness and moisture which promote the growth of a 



rich and succulent herbage; 

 and as the soil is almost 

 all on the limestone, the 

 grasses are varied in cha- 

 racter and rich in nutritive 

 properties. 



These advantages are 

 shared to some extent by 

 the rest of the British 

 Islands ; it is not, there- 

 fore, in natural advantages 

 that we are wanting for the 

 production of the best of 

 all possible butter, 



When we come to butter- 

 making, we have an art 

 to discuss that is much 

 simpler than cheese- 

 maVing; and yet, for all 

 that, the proportion of 

 third-rate butter is, or lately 

 was, about as great as that 

 of cheese in the country 

 at large. The easy-going 

 optimism which is so com- 

 mon in the human family, 



and the clinging belief in which many folk indulge as to the 

 satisfactory character of their own methods/and the too general 

 lack there is of a desire to be taught anything different, must 

 be held accountable for whatever inferior butter and cheese 

 may have been produced in this country. In the future, how- 

 ever, no excuse will easily be found for the maker of bad 



FIG. 27. THE "FARMERS' ALFA." FITTED 

 FOR HAND OR BELT POWER. 



