64 
Irish Agriculture. 
sleeping apartment, which. I need scarcely say, is not calculated 
to improve the quality of the butter. Much of the butter made 
by the ordinary run of farmers is also oversalted. This reduces 
the value of the article. An important improvement in pre- 
paring Irish butter for market would be the use of smaller 
packages than the firkin of 70 lbs. If small packages were 
recognised in the market, small farmers would be able to fill one 
of these packages at one churning, which would make the 
quality more uniform, and therefore more valuable than it is 
when several churnings are required to fill the firkin. Con- 
sidering that the annual yield of the milch cows in Ireland 
may be reckoned on a moderate estimate as representing about 
12^ millions sterling, any measure calculated to increase the 
value of their produce is of much importance to the country. 
Cheese-making does not form any part of dairy management 
in Ireland. Some farmers, more especially English or Scotch 
farmers settled in Ireland, occasionally make a small quantity of 
cheese for their own use ; and in one part of the north of Ireland 
cheese used to be made to some extent, but it is not a common 
article of manufacture. I have seen as good cheese made in Ire- 
land as could be produced anywhere; but I have also known places 
where the manufacture of cheese, even under apparently favourable 
circumstances, proved a failure. A somewhat remarkable instance 
of this kind came under my notice in the county of Tipperary. 
An experienced farmer from Cheshire took a fine farm of 500 acres 
in that county, intending to carry on cheese-making as he and 
his family had been accustomed to do at home. The pasture 
was excellent, but cheese fit for market could not be produced, 
and the attempt was given up. Yet the pasture produced butter 
of excellent quality, and a fair average, at least as to quantity, 
but the cheese was always so poor that butter had to be mixed 
with it. Professor Johnston says that " Whatever gives rise to 
natural differences in the quality of the milk must affect also 
that of the cheese prepared from it. If the milk be poor in 
butter, so must the cheese be. If the pasture be such as to give 
the milk rich in cream, the cheese will partake of the same 
quality." The instance to which I have referred is quite con- 
trary to Johnston's views. I do not profess to be able to explain 
the cause, but there is no reason to doubt the correctness of the 
statement, for the agent on the property, who is an English 
gentleman and a keen agriculturist himself, was with me when 
I got the information from the farmer, and corroborated it. On 
the same day 1 visited another farm, held in like manner by an 
English tenant. It is also situated in Tippcrarv, but the pasture 
was of a " kinder " nature than that on the other farm. In this case 
the cheese manufacture lias been perfectly successful ; so much so. 
