CHAPTER V. 



CANADIAN CHEDDAR CHEESEMAKING. 



THE cheese industry is the most valuable branch 

 of agriculture in Canada. Our exports of this one 

 article are valued at over twenty millions of dollars 

 annually. There are about 3,500 factories for the 

 manufacture of cheese in the whole of Canada, but 

 over 3,000 of these are found in the Provinces of Onta- 

 rio and Quebec. It is altogether likely that the cheese 

 centres of Canada will move out West, and that the 

 older provinces will engage more largely in butter- 

 making, because cheesemaking is much more exhaust- 

 ive of soil fertility, and the newer provinces are much 

 better able to withstand the drain than the older 

 settled parts of Canada. However, cheesemaking pays 

 the farmer much better during an average of years 

 than does buttermaking, and for some time we are 

 likely to continue making cheese, or at least until the 

 butter industry is established on a better basis than 

 at present. 



The system of cheesemaking which is followed 

 almost exclusively in Canada is that known as the 

 Canadian Cheddar, which is an improvement upon the 

 English Cheddar system in so far as its application to 

 Canadian conditions is concerned. The system orig- 



