DECEMBER. 



as hay, bran, &c. ; for there is no point they adhere 

 to more than always to give variety of foods to a 

 fattening beast. 



DAIRY. 



" In large dairies, cheese-making is continued 

 throughout the year. Not only cheese for the fa- 

 iftily, but factor's cheese also, is made through the 

 winter season. In one dairy I saw a very conside- 

 rable parcel of broad thick cheese, which was lite- 

 rally made in winter. Many tons of factor's cheese 

 is every year made in this district, entirely from 

 hay ; which, if good, is said to afford not only 

 closer, but richer cheese, than grass. Winter- made 

 cheese, however, is long in ripening, and is liable 

 to be scurfy, and white-coated ; but time overcomes 

 one of these disadvantages, and a coat of red paint 

 the other." Marshall. 



"The cows of many dairies are said to come in too 

 early in the spring : their milk is spent before the 

 autumnal flush of grass sets in. The cool months 

 of autumn are not only favourable to the manufac- 

 ture of cheese, bat the milk of that season is 

 thought to yield a greater proportion of curd than 

 that of the summer months. I mention this as the 

 observation of a man who is singularly entitled to 

 attention, being intimately acquainted with every 

 department of the dairy management of this coun- 

 try. But may not this deficiency of autumnal pro- 

 duce, be in some measure owing to the nature of 

 the long-horned cows ; which, though they afford 



R r 4 a flush 



