THE FIRST CO-OPERATIVE CHEESE FACTORY 



The costs of installation are distributed in equal shares among the mem- 

 bers. Ten per cent, of their amount is annually deducted from the societj- 's 

 profits and distributed among the members as interest and redemption 

 quota on the capital of installation. The remaining profits are distributed 

 among them in proportion to the quantity of milk each of them has supplied 

 during the cheesemaking season. 



The following are the only figures we have as to the quantities of milk 

 supplied by the members, and refer to 1914. 



(i) I kilogramme = 2.2 lbs. 



The members are obliged to deliver perfectly strained milk and to bring 

 it to the factory in vessels of tinned iron, quite full and hermetically sealed. 

 In order to prevent the adulteration of the milk by the addition of water 

 or other substances it is analysed on its arrival at the factory. For its 

 transport the members have adopted a system of special carts furnished 

 with awTiings and so made that the vessels are exposed neither to the sun 

 nor to rain. 



For the installation of the factory the premises formerly used for cheese- 

 making by a member were chosen and were suitably transformed and en- 

 larged. The factory now occupies a fine two-storied building covering an 

 area of 300 square metres (2). On the ground floor are the reception room, 

 the depot, two large rooms used as warehouses, two others used as factories, 

 one for the boiler and stove, and the dwellings of the cheesemakers. On 

 the upper stor^^ there are warehouses in which as many as 5,000 cheeses 

 can be stored and which have all the conditions taught b}^ science and expe- 

 rience to be necessary to the preservation of manchego cheese. 



The disposition of the cheeses, the accommodation, the ventilation and 

 the economy'' realized make these premises a true model for establishments 

 of their kind. 



{2) I square metre -= 1.196 siiuure yards. 



