Composition of Cheese. 
57 
It does not supersede paticmce 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 Keevil's 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 Avhen using this 
apparatus as when making it according to her own fashion. 
Some of the very best and some of the very Avorst 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 
referi-ed : — 
No. 2, containing '68 per cent, of butter, was made from curd taken by 
Keevil's apparatus. 
3!vo. 36, containing "18 per cent, of butter, was made from curd taken by 
' Keevil's apparatus. 
Xo. IS, 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 : — 
Xo. 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 liand. 
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 
