no BRITISH DAIRYING. 



that cheese factories are firmly established in this country, and 

 that, as a rule, they have been tolerably successful, in the 

 face of nearly twenty years' decreasing prices of dairy pro- 

 ducts. 



In establishing a factory either for cheese- or butter-making, 

 on the co-operative plan, it is first of all necessary to find out 

 how many cows' milk can be secured. Three to five hundred 

 seem to indicate the minimum and maximum numbers for the 

 greatest convenience. Less than 300 do not appear to find 

 work enough for a proper staff of hands ; more than 500 

 become somewhat unwieldy, and some of the milk has to 

 come rather too far. An adequate supply of pure, cold 

 water is indispensable, and a suitable building is also a sine qua 

 non. An open, airy situation is better than one that is neither, 

 and good drainage is an absolute necessity. 



Two factories of 5oo-cow capacity will be found better than 

 one of 1,000, generally speaking, if they are so located as 

 to be most convenient to the majority of the milk-suppliers. 

 For cheese and butter making purposes milk is not improved 

 by travelling far in closely-lidded cans over rough country 

 roads in jolting carts, and it is an irksome thing to cart milk 

 twice a day three or four miles to a factory, particularly when 

 it realises only fourpence to fivepence a gallon. There are 

 difficulties enough, without adding distance to the number. And 

 yet, at the Shoal Lake cheese factory in Manitoba, I was in- 

 formed that some of the milk was brought in the teens of miles 

 once a day. 



Factory-made cheese can hardly expect ever to equal the 

 best that is made in farmhouses. But it may readily be better 

 than the average quality that is produced in any given district. 

 Some persons have said that factory-made cheese will not keep 

 more thao a few months. This is arrant nonsense ; they might 

 just as well say that brewery ale will not keep. It is really not 

 wanted to keep, but to be eaten as soon as it is fit. But, all the 

 same, factory cheese can be made to keep as long as farmhouse 

 cheese, or it can be made for early consumption. Early ripen- 

 ing cheese will naturally not keep as long as late ripening 



