Mejmrt on the Exhibition of Cheese at Chester. 411 



as 20 were required to be sent to the show. Besides, the addi- 

 tional shed-room thus rendered necessary would be so large as to 

 make the carrying out of the suggestion very difficult, to say 

 nothing of the great additional labour which would be imposed 

 on the judges. 



It has been proposed that any future exhibitions of cheese, in 

 connexion with the Society, should be in September or October ; 

 but it is not likely that the Society will have an exhibition of this 

 article distinct from their show of cattle, which is always in July. 



I have already suggested to the Council, through the Secretary 

 of the Society, the desirability of prizes being given next year for 

 cheeses of different kinds — say for Cheshire, Gloucester, Cheddar, 

 and Stilton. If July is considered too early for showing 7iew 

 cheese, let the prizes be confined to old — -that is, to cheese made 

 in the year previous to the show. 



As to whether Cheshire cheese is better or worse now than it 

 was 20 years ago, I feel incompetent to decide ; but I am per- 

 suaded that, on the whole, it is not so good as it ought to be, and 

 that thousands of pounds are lost annually by farmers in Cheshire 

 and the adjoining counties, in consequence of their making it of 

 an inferior quality, which compels them to submit to an inferior 

 price. Should any doubt this assertion, let me tell them that 

 there are at this time (Oct. 1858) large quantities of inferior 

 cheese selling by the jfarmers for less than 505. per 120 lbs. 

 (the lowest being about 45^.), whilst the best is disposed of at 

 70^. and even 735., and the average quality at 555. to 6O5. 



But, whilst admitting that much inferior cheese is made, I 

 wish also to bear testimony to the excellence of the produce of 

 many of the Cheshire dairies. It is well known that several of 

 the best makers of cheese declined to exhibit at Chester. Having 

 already, and deservedly, obtained a good name, and knowing that, 

 where the competition was likely to be so great, many really 

 good dairies would necessarily be excluded from prizes, they 

 considered it prudent not to risk, by contest, the loss of any por- 

 tion of the fame they already possessed. 



There is an impression on the minds of many cheesefactors 

 and others that Cheshire cheese has deteriorated in quality ever 

 since, if not in consequence of, the very general application of 

 bone-manure to the grass lands ; and there is, I believe, no doubt 

 that the superior herbage which this application induces does 

 render more care necessary in the management of the })roduce of 

 the cows, when converted into cheese. But if any proof be 

 wanted that good cheese of the first quality can be made on farms 

 on which bone-manure has been freely applied, we have it in the 

 fact that Ridley Hall Farm, where the champion cheese was 

 made, and most, if not all the farms on which the other prize- 



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