The Pasture.

One great reason why our home-made cheese has a world-wide reputation is owing to the fine pasture. The meadows have been laid down for years, and consist of the finest grades of strong sound grass which experience and time can produce, free from artificial manuring and from all rank herbs which would flavour the milk; and in these pastures neither sheep, pigs, or poultry feed.

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In Wisconsin, and elsewhere in the United States of America, many of the dairy-cattle feed on pastures formerly covered with thick forests. The timber is now cleared, and only the stumps left, but the rank herbs remain, and the cheese of the district has a her by flavour, which damages the sale.

In one of our prize English dairies, whose cheese we took every year, we noticed last season a peculiar flavour about some days' make, and consequent depreciation in value. The dairymaid declared the cheese was made exactly as in previous seasons; and it was only after careful examination we discovered that a flock of sheep had been running in some of the fields, and the days the cows were on this land the milk was tainted; when the cows were elsewhere the milk was all right.

In pasture we include water, and it is impossible to lay too much stress on the necessity of an ample supply of fresh clear water, as in nine cases out of ten bad milk and pin-holey curd can be traced to a defect in the water-supply.

Last year we paid a premium for a particular Canadian factory of specially-good reputation; but on arrival of the cheese in England it was off flavour, and some scarcely fit for food. Neither the maker nor our men had noticed anything when they were shipped, but after considerable personal investigation on the farms in Canada we found that owing to the severe drought the cattle had been drinking stale bad water.

Even before the milk is drawn it may be affected, for should the supply of water run short in hot weather, and the cows have to go any distance for it, the milk will assuredly be injuriously affected.