Report on the Exhibition of Cheese at Chester. 



403 



Note. — In estimating the weight from the contents in cnbic inches, I have adopted 

 a common divisor of 2 7 J, there being usually that number of cubic inches in a 

 pound of sound cheese. This datum is the result of several investigations, and is 

 sufficiently correct for ordinary purposes ; but it must not be concluded from it 

 that all Cheshire cheese is of the same specific gravity. 



Amongst the new cheese (Class 3) the four exhibited by the 

 Misses Wrench of Huntington, near Chester (No, 183 in Cata- 

 logue), were " commended " by the Judges, not so much for their 

 superior quality — on which the Judges gave no opinion, for the 

 cheeses were too young — as for their extraordinary size, and for 

 the skill and labour which must have been exercised in the com- 

 pacting of the enormous bulk of curd from which they were 

 made. The diameter of the two largest was 24§ inches, and the 

 thickness 18 inches. The weight would, therefore, be at least 

 300 lbs, each, and the weight of the other two similarly calcu- 

 lated would be about 150 lbs. each. One of the Judges, referring 

 to these large-sized cheeses, says, that, " while they will be 

 admired as curiosities, they should not stimulate imitation," 



Exhibitions of cheese have for many years formed part of the 

 attraction at the Cheshire Agricultural Society's show, and occa- 

 sionally at other local societies' shows in Cheshire and Lanca- 

 shire ; but the exhibition at Chester far surpassed anything ever 

 seen before in these counties or in England, It excited the 

 admiration, not only of strangers, but of the farmers of Cheshire 

 themselves, and particularly of their wives and daughters. 



At the local shows referred to, which are usually held in 

 September or October, new cheese only — say four or five months 

 old — is exhibited ; but at the Royal Society's Show at Chester 



