West Country Cheeses. 35 



edge to collect any drainage from the cheese, as is the case 

 with Stiltons. Some makers put them into a strong brine 

 when they are taken from the press, and keep them there for 

 four or five days. When this is done the amount of salt used 

 with the curd should be reduced to ^ oz. salt to each pound of 

 curd. 



The curing-room should be kept dark, as mould forms more 

 quickly thus than in a strong light ; it should have a mild 

 humid atmosphere ; a dry or hot room causes the cheese to crack, 

 whilst the evaporation is too great, thereby retarding the forma- 

 tion of mould, and it also makes the cheese dry and hard. A 

 good cheese should be soft and buttery, covered with blue 

 mould and rich in flavour, which is the great characteristic of 

 its variety. 



The usual weight of this kind of cheese is about 17 lb. each 

 when ripe. It commands a good and ready sale in any of the 

 "Western Counties, whilst the best auction markets are 

 Dorchester and Sturminster Newton. At the former market 

 my neighbour got 110s. per cwt. for some last season, made 

 precisely on the lines I have stated. 



F. E. Dare. 



Marriotts Farm, Lecturer and Instructor to the Dorset 



Halstock, Yeovil. and Isle of Wight County Councils. 



4.— NORTH WILTS CHEESE. 



Cheese has been made in Wiltshire at a very early period. In 

 the Chartulary of Lacock Abbey, " according to the customs of 

 the Manor belonging thereto, a cheese was given to the men 

 who made the hay in the 15th century." And later on, in 

 Queen Elizabeth's reign, the people in South Wilts bought 

 cheese from North Wilts. Very little cheese was ever made 

 in South Wilts, as the Down Country was more suitable for 

 keeping sheep. 



North Wilts cheese was at first sold in London as Gloucester 

 cheese, and was no doubt an imitation of the Gloucester article. 

 This continued for many years, but later on, owing to better 

 bred cows, and more expert dairymaids, Wiltshire produced 

 cheese of a superior quality. The fai-ms in North Wilts in the 

 end of the 18th century, and the beginning of the 19th century, 

 were large, and nearly all pasture. The breed of cows kept for 

 cheese making was the longhorn known as the " North Country 

 cow." They were bred in the district, but the bulls were 

 imported from the Midlands. The cows were kept out all the 

 winter, and if the land was very rich, one or two sheep were 

 run with the herd to impoverish the pasture, the idea being 

 that with very rich grass the old-fashioned dairymaids could 



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