Composition of Cheese. 
25J 
tion by a scientific botanical examiner, that ho may determine 
the percentage of weeds and of live seeds, just as we have ch(!mical 
analysts to examine artificial manures? A few shillings thus 
laid out might save jiounds. 
To conclude, the adulteration of seeds is a practice of trade, or 
rather a system of fraud similar to tliat of falsely labelling goods 
for sale : as when 100 yards of cotton thread are labelled as 200 ; 
or a tin of coffee stated to weigh 2 oz. or 3 oz. more than its true 
weight. But there is this dif!erenc(; in these latter instances, 
that the buyer of the cotton or the coffee suffers an immediate and 
direct loss, the amount of which can be at once estimated ; but 
the loss to the buyer of doctored seeds is far greater, affecting all 
the expected increase of the fruits of the earth, if not })crmanently 
tainting the soil on which they grow. In honourable trade 
things should be called by their proper names, and if it is 
necessary to have mixed and doctored seeds they should be sold 
as such. 
Adulteration plainly owes its origin to the desire to amass 
wealth, and, so long as the demand for cheap goods continues, I 
fear it will be pandered to by the unscrupulous trader. Dr. 
Buckman's words in the 'Journal,' vol. xvii. p. 376, may prove 
a fitting conclusion : " Pure or clean seed is ever worth paying 
a greater price for, as the reverse may entail trouble and expense 
for years. Any mechanical processes, therefore, which can be 
made available for cleaning seed are well worthy of patronage. 
A seedsman who will be careful in the preparation and collection 
of seed deserves the best support. In order also to assist in this 
matter, farmers should be particular not to allow a dirty patch 
to stand for seed, although it may be ' the most profitable thing 
they can do with it.' " 
III. — On the Composition of Cheese, and on Practical Mistakes 
in Cheese-makimj. By Dr. Augustus Voelcker. 
In the opinion of many persons English cheese is not what it 
used to be in the good old time, when it was far more common 
than now-a-days for farmers' wives personally to preside over the 
dairy and conduct the making of cheese through its various 
stages. Some people assert positively that the English cheese 
of the present day is inferior in quality to that which was made 
centuries ago. It is of course impossible to give satisfactory 
proofs of this supposed inferiority ; but at the same time it must 
be admitted that the prevailing custom of leaving the chief dairy 
operations almost entirely in the hands of servants furnishes 
