REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURE OF AYRSHIRE. 99 



be continued, and the small quantity of annatto requisite is per- 

 fectly innocuous. The large size of the Cheddars is disadvan- 

 geous in more ways than one. 



The two systems have been already pretty well contrasted. 

 The advantages, if any, got by following the new style of mak- 

 ing, may be summed up in few words. The simplicity of the 

 Cheddar manufacture as contrasted with other English modes, 

 goes for nothing, as it is more intricate in details, if any thing, 

 than our old Ayrshire way. The greater uniformity of quality 

 obtained in each separate dairy by using the thermometer, 

 may be an advantage, but which pertains equally to the Dunlop 

 mode if the Dunlop makers would do the same. The use of the 

 clock, so much insisted on, is in great part humbug, as the 

 makers well know that the length of time allowed to each of 

 the several processes varies more or less almost every day. The 

 difficulty is on most of our small Ayrshire farms to get the 

 dairy women to constantly attend to those minutiae, and many 

 of them indeed know precious little about degrees of heat, al- 

 though they can tell the proper warmth desired perfectly by the 

 feel of their hands. The lightness of labour, also, said to be 

 characteristic of the Cheddar system in England, does not shew 

 itself much when contrasted with our Dunlop mode. The lift- 

 ing and carrying and turning of such monsters of cheeses as the 

 Cheddars, is alone no light labour for a woman of any age. 

 The labour is every whit as great by the one mode as by the 

 other ; but in both cases, doubtless, the bodily fatigue may \n> 

 lessened by special contrivances, implements, or appliances. 

 Instance for the Cheddar mode Mr. Lindsay of Townend, who 

 has fitted up a steam boiler at considerable expense, with pipes 

 led from it through his making room and cheese lofts, chiefly 

 for regulating the temperature of his storage rooms (kept always 

 between 60° and 65°) ; but attached to the steam pipe in the 

 making room is a long brass tube with a universal joint, and by 

 plunging the nozzle of which into either milk or whey, these can 

 be brought to any required heat in a few minutes, and thus sav- 

 ing much heavy lifting to the dairy maid. Any small amount 

 of weight more obtained by either of the modes respectively 

 over the other is so inappreciable, as that it may be said to be 

 of no weight at all in the matter. The reporter inquired parti- 

 cularly as to this point at various of the Cheddar makers, and 

 they one and all stated that they knew no perceptible difference 

 in the weight of cheese obtained under their new mode. There 

 cannot be, in fact, any more weight got worth notice. 



With respect to the advantage of better quality, that is 

 merely a matter of taste on the part of each consumer's palate. 

 Because Somersetshire men maintain their cheese the best, it 

 does not follow that Scotchmen are to swallow that belief in op- 



