10 ITALY - CO-OPERATION AND ASSOCIATION 



islands 12 (i). There is information dating from 1915 as to co-operative 

 cheesemaking in the districts of Ital}', and this we will briefly notice. 



Beginning with the north we find collective dairies vers- common in 

 fertile Piedmont. There are more than 200 of them in the district of Aosta. 

 These are very small dairies formed b}- small farmers of the district in which 

 fontina is made. They undertake merely the conversion of the milk, the 

 local dealers undertaking the ripening of the cheese. The latter centra- 

 lize the entire production, a large part of the product being exported. In 

 the province of Cuneo there are seven dairies, some of them very impor- 

 tant. The province of Alexandria has only two of them, but in the district 

 of Novara there are about fort}^ most of which manufacture gorgonzola. 



In Liguria there are also some collective dairies, those of Masone and 

 Campoligure having a certain importance. 



In Lombard}^ in the region of Pavia and Milan, the few large dairies 

 which exist have been let to individuals, but in Sondrio their number 

 reaches sevent^'-six. In Valtellina there is a much developed cheesemaking 

 industry, practised by numerous small collective dairies, generally of the 

 primitive family type. Cheesemaking is practised b}^ the dairies in winter 

 from October to April- June, general!}' ceasing in April or May when the 

 cattle go to the Ma}" pastures, to consume the forage and afterwards to 

 pass on to the Alps. While the cattle are on these pastures the farmers 

 themselves treat the milk, combined in sm.all groups of five or six families 

 who lend it to each other. Thej' collectively transform it into cheese, 

 taking shorter or longer turns according to the quantity supplied. In all 

 fhe dairies of the province butter and cheese made v/ithout cream are ma- 

 nufactured almost exclusivel3^ In the spring cheese made partly or wholly 

 with cream is manufactured. Only the dain,- of Bormio, one of the most 

 notable in the province, produces cheese of the Ermenthal type. 



The province of Como has also a large number of collective dairies. 

 The last statistics show that there are more than thirty of them and that 

 they are spreading rapidly, especiall}^ in the district of Lecco. 



The province of Cremona includes nine of these dairies. Except one 

 at Casalmaggiore, which is small, they are very important and they are 

 managed by the modern methods followed in large dairies. They include 

 the famous dair>' of Soresina, the largest in Itah', to which we will devote 

 a special paragraph. 



The co-operative dairies in the province of Brescia number more than 

 fifty ; those in the province of Bergamo more than thirty (2). In the lat- 



(i) These data are approximate, it being in practice difficult to establish precise statistics 

 for these societies, especially such of them as are virtuallj- constituted but are often at 

 work only for a few months, according to the district in which they are situated, dissolving 

 at the end of this period and subsequently reconstituting themselves after a short inter\-al. 



(2) Detailed information as to the collective dairies of lyomliardy will be found in the report 

 of the jury for the prize competition opened in 1 9 1 4 by the Societd agraria di Lombardia for dairies 

 founded in this region before 191 3 and dealing with an average quantity of no more than 

 15 quintals (i quintal = 220 lbs.) of milk. Twenty-one societies took part in this competition. 



