344 
National Agricultural Examination Board. 
leports that at Reading the work on the whole was excellent, 
although a few of the candidates were not as conversant with 
practical dairying on a farm as they should be. A want of 
knowledge of farm and of dairy book-keeping, which was 
commented on by the examiner last year, is still noticeable. 
I he candidates showed a good knowledge of feeding rations for 
dairy stock, of the healthy rearing of dairy stock, and of recent 
legislation in connection with dairying. 
At Kilmarnock the work was also of a similarly high character. 
The good work done by Milk Record Associations in the .West 
of Scotland was well known, and at this centre the practical 
experience of the candidates on dairy farms was undoubtedly 
better than at Reading, but in some cases a sufficient knowledge 
of the scientific side of general dairying had not been obtained. 
The work generally at both centres indicated that careful 
instruction is being given in general dairying and in practical 
butter-making at the different teaching centres, and that this 
insti uction has reached a much higher standard in recent years. 
Some of the candidates both at Reading and at Kilmarnock 
gave quite good indications of being able to impart instruction 
m a satisfactory manner. 
6. Mr. John Benson, who again acted as Examiner in 
Cheese-making at both centres, reports that the work of candi- 
dates in both the theory and practice of cheese-making was very 
satisfactory and much in advance of the standard of previous 
years. It was very evident that more care had been taken by 
both teacher and candidate in preparing for this Examination, 
and the new Regulations which came into force this year 
eliminated almost entirely that class of candidate who came 
up m other years wholly unprepared, but who took a chance 
ot getting through the Examination. 
This year— under the new rules — the selection of the hard 
pressed variety of cheese required to be made by each candi- 
date was m the hands of the Examiner, and the arrangement 
worked very well indeed. With the exception of the Cheshire 
all the varieties were equally well made. They were true to 
type and satisfactory in all respects. Respecting a certain 
number of the candidates who were required to make Cheshire 
cheese, the Examiner was not quite satisfied that they under- 
stood the process thoroughly. The tendency was to handle the 
curd too roughly and to break it too fine during the earlier 
stages of manufacture. In some cases also too much acidity 
was developed before drawing off the whey. These cheeses 
when ripe will not, however, be bad, but they will not possess 
re qualities one expects to find in really well made Cheshire 
cheese. 
