Composition of Cheese. 31 



It does not supersede patience and skill, but its merit con- 

 sists in saving a great deal of hard labour and time. Be- 

 yond this, I may say, without disparagement to his ingenious 

 contrivances for breaking the curd, straining off the whey, and 

 other appliances, that it effects nothing which may not be done 

 by hand. But this saving of time and hard labour is a great 

 merit in an apparatus which can be bought at no great cost. 

 Where from 30 to 40 milking-cows are kept, it may be safely 

 recommended ; in smaller dairies there may not be sufficient use 

 for it. Having made frequent trial of KeeviFs apparatus, I am 

 anxious that its true merits should be known, but no unreasonable 

 expectations be entertained. It has been said that it makes more 

 and better cheese than can be made by hand. My own opinion 

 is, that it makes neither more or less, neither better or worse 

 cheese than a skilful dairymaid will make by hand, and that a 

 careless one is as likely to spoil her cheese when using this 

 apparatus as when making it according to her own fashion. 



Some of the very best and some of the very worst of cheeses 

 which I have examined were made in dairies where Keevil's 

 apparatus is in daily use. The superior character of the one 

 cheese is as little a proof of the merits of Keevil's apparatus as 

 is the bad quality of the other an evidence against it. 



Again, I may point to the composition of the whey analyses 

 marked No. 2, No. 3, No. 8, and No. 14, in the preceding large 

 table, and to the three whey analyses to which I have just 

 referred : 



No. 2, containing *68 per cent, of butter, was made from curd taken by 



Keevil's apparatus. 

 No. 16, containing '18 per cent, of butter, was made from curd taken by 



KeeviPs apparatus. 

 No. 18, containing "03 per cent, of butter, was made from curd taken by 



Keevil's apparatus. 



Here, then, we have two samples of whey very poor in butter, 

 and one sample containing more butter than any of the seventeen 

 which I analysed. On the other hand : 



No. 3, containing '55 per cent, of butter, was made from curd broken by 



hand. 

 No. 8, containing *24 per cent, of butter, was made from curd broken by 



hand. 

 No. 14, containing '14 per cent, of butter, was made from curd broken 



by hand. 



Here, again, we have two well-separated samples of whey, and 

 one rich in butter, all three being made from curd broken by 

 hand. 



Passing on from the loss of butter to that in the curd itself, I 

 find that, although no doubt some fine curd is lost when the 



