“Cheese-making, owing to American importations, has recently been so unprofitable that there is the more necessity for attention to butter-making. Why should the dairies of France, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden be able to supply an article in our markets which is superior to the bulk of our own make? And why, above all, in the matter of fresh butter, should Normandy be preferred by our large purveyors to the home dairies, were it not that by superior cleanliness and systematic management the quality is more dependable? For instance, we have been told that the manager of the Midland Hotel at Derby obtains all his butter from Normandy, because he finds it more reliable and of better and more uniform quality than English produce, notwithstanding that he lives in the centre of a great dairy district, and that the foreign produce is liable to deterioration by the journey. Here, then, the English farmer has an opportunity which he is very wrong to neglect. Cheese does not pay--at least, such varieties as are usually made; the demand for milk is limited; but good sweet butter will always command a fair and often a very high price. The reasons given by Jenkins for the inferior butter are these: That the milk is not skimmed early enough--often not before a certain amount of sourness has been developed in the milk, and an appreciable amount of curd has therefore become mixed with the cream. It is true that this curd increases the quantity, but it affects the quality; the butter becomes rank, and fetches a low price. Careless skimming, by taking off some of the milk with the cream, causes the same results. Carelessness in churning or in the manipulation of the butter, by which buttermilk and water are left in the butter. It may be that this is sometimes intentional, as more weight is obtained; but the quality is greatly injured. Much handling of the butter in making up is also a source of injury. Dirt in any form, bad smells, unskilful milking, bad food and water given to the cows; bad water, soap, or other noxious substances used in washing the dairy and vessels, are all causes of bad butter which must be guarded against. Temperature being allowed to vary, bad packing, &c., are all elements that require more care than is usually bestowed. As regards the food, Jenkins points out that in a wet season, grass alone cannot be depended on to give a good result--it is too succulent in its nature, and should be modified by the use of 4 lb. of bean meal given to each cow daily; whilst under ordinary circumstances the ration may consist of 2 lb. to 3 lb. of decorticated cotton cake, or 2½ lb. of bran and 2½ lb. of oatmeal, or 3 lb. of oatmeal and 2 lb. of bean meal. And he states, what all who have had experience will confirm, that by the use of such food more cows can be profitably kept, and that a farmer should look upon grass and hay as the most expensive articles of food. Then Jenkins proceeds to describe the process of butter-making