120 BRITISH DAIRYING. 



so that he who runs may read what has been done. Whether 

 or no he will profit by what he reads will depend on his 

 possessing a wise and understanding heart and mind. For it 

 needs a heart to tackle the subject, and a mind to understand 

 it, as one would think. Be that as it may, the secret which 

 for centuries has been buried the secret of success in the 

 dairy has been disinterred and brought into play. The 

 " secret" is now on sale as a commercial article, just as yeast 

 for bread-making " German yeast," which now we know is 

 indispensable can be bought by the dairymaid or the house- 

 wife. The " starter " and German yeast are, each in its own 

 sphere, just simply ordinary ferments in the world of Nature, 

 available for the use of man. 



The Cheddar people and others long ago found a " starter" 

 in acid whey, or acid curd, or acid buttermilk, and used it 

 sporadically, but as a rule with good effect. These means, 

 however, useful though they were, and even excellent in good 

 hands, were more or less unreliable for the simple but sufficient 

 reason that they were ill-regulated and undefined. To-day, 

 however, there is absolute precision, so far as science can 

 confer it, in the definition of " pure culture of the lactic acid 

 bacillus," and in the duties it is calculated to discharge when 

 properly applied. This " pure culture/' or " starter," as it is 

 commonly called, because it starts the right fermentation, is 

 prepared at some of the dairy schools or colleges, and supplied 

 to the public, with instructions for its use in milk for cheese- 

 making and in cream for butter-making. At the Kingston 

 Dairy and Agricultural College a large trade is done in it, 

 through the post or by rail. 



It is not necessary in a private dairy to purchase the 

 " starter " for each churning. To save from the first churning 

 a portion of buttermilk for the second, and again from the 

 second a portion for the third, and so on, will be found to 

 serve very well, with careful management. After a time, 

 however, the potency of the " starter," so kept from churning 

 to churning, begins to weaken, and in this event a fresh supply 

 must be got from fountain-head. 



