402 Report vu the Exliibition of Cheese at Chester. 



Of the 194 entries, 178 were made by persons resident in 

 Cheshire, 7 came from Denbig^hshire, 5 from Staffordshire, 3 

 from Shropshire, and 1 from Derbyshire. With one exception 

 (the prize obtained by Mr. E. H. Martin, junior, whose farm is 

 in Staffordshire), the whole of the prizes have been awarded to 

 Cheshire farmers ; and the exception I have named is that of a 

 farm bordering on Cheshire, which is occupied by the son of a 

 Cheshire land-agent, and the cheese was made by a Cheshire 

 dairymaid. 



The cheeses were arranged in a double row along the centre 

 of a shed 487 feet long and 20 feet wide, and having a ceiling 

 of canvas. This assisted very much in moderating the tempe- 

 rature, which, as might be expected in July, was somewhat too 

 warm for the exhibition of cheese.* 



The weic/lit of all the cheese exhibited was about 20 tons. The 

 average weight of the four champion cheeses was 107 lbs. each — 

 my estimate of the largest of the four from measurement being 

 111 lbs. It is now the practice to make Cheshire cheeses much 

 thicker than formerly in proportion to their diameters. Their 

 appearance is thus considered to be improved ; and although in 

 cheese, as in other things, that which is best looking is not 

 always really the best, it did so happen at Chester that the 

 champion cheeses were not only the best in quality, but, ac- 

 cording to our present notions of symmetry, among the hand- 

 somest in shape. 



In the rules for the exhibition, the privilege was reserved to 

 the Local Committee of purchasing any of the prize cheeses for 

 the Society or for presentation, at a price to be fixed by the 

 Judges. The Committee, therefore, determined on buying the 

 four champion cheeses to which the prize of lOOZ. had been 

 awarded, and presented one to the Queen, one to the Emperor 

 of the French — through his ambassador, the Due de Malakoff, 

 who was present at the show and dinner, — one to the Earl of 

 Derby as Prime Minister, and one to the then President of the 

 Society, Lord Berners. A prize cheese of Mr. Ankers, in 

 Class 1, was also bought and presented to the Society for the 

 public dinner. 



It will perhaps not be uninteresting to readers of this article 

 if I here record the dimensions and estimated weight of one of each 

 of the prize cheeses : — 



* The heat of the other sheds in the show-yard where thermometers were kept 

 '.vas about VO'-' in the middle of the day, and that, I presume, would be about 

 the heat of the cheese-shed. 



