852 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER, BOOK n. 



of practical interest. That there will be many such points may 

 readily be conceived ; for, in such carefully conducted places as 

 factories, in which every detail is carefully calculated and carried out, 

 experience must have resulted in the deciding of hitherto disputed 

 points of practice, or in the discovery of new ones. Every one at all 

 desirous of excelling, no matter what the circumstances of his dair} r , 

 ought to be glad to avail himself of such results of a practice more 

 extended, at all events, if not more carefully carried out, than his 

 own. As that well-known authority, Mr. J. C. Morton, excellently 

 well puts it : " Even on estates already well equipped, the practice of 

 the best and most successful manufacturers ought not to be lightly 

 thought of, either by the landowner or by the farmer." And when we 

 learn that one result of the working of the factory system has been the 

 raising of the market value of cheese- where cheese is the principal if 

 not the only product made in the factories ten shillings the cwt., as 

 compared with home-made cheese in the same neighbourhood, one may 

 well endorse the statement further made by Mr. Morton, " if the great 

 staple agricultural manufacture of any country can be improved so as 

 to largely increase the value of its annual produce the fund out of 

 which rent, labour, and the tenant are all paid it must be pronounced 

 mere sentimental folly to oppose the improvement because estates have 

 been recently equipped at some cost for the former less profitable 

 process." 



This is putting the case fairly, candidly, and honestly ; and any 

 system which has produced such results should be welcomed by all as 

 a new power adding to the wealth of the community. It is to be 

 noticed, moreover, and that with no small degree ot satisfaction by 

 those interested in the progress of agriculture, that wherever a factory 

 is established the farming of the neighbourhood begins to advance, and 

 to rise in the scale of effective working. This, after all, is a natural 

 result. It is an absolute necessity of the factory system that the milk 

 supplied to it by the farmers of the neighbourhood shall be in the best 

 possible condition ; other than this will not do for the results they aim 

 at ; other than this, therefore, will not be bought. All milk sent to a 

 factory must be clean and fresh, for the impure milk of one farm will 

 vitiate the milk it is mixed with from all the others. The strictest 

 care as to cleanliness is a sine qua -non cleanliness of milk-pails, 

 milk-cans, milk-sieves, and of everything fi'om which harm may be 

 apprehended. Instances of uncleanliness have occurred, at times, at 

 all the factories, and bad cheese has been the result. It follows, 

 therefore, that the manager must keep a watchful eye on all the milk 

 he takes in, so that disobedience to rules may be detected and 

 punished. 



In the American factories the practice, as may be supposed, varies 

 considerably ; still there is a general principle which runs through 

 them all, so far as the working details, both commercial and farming 

 or dairying are concerned. We do not consider that commercial details 

 come so much within the scope of the present work as those connected 

 with the practical making of butter and cheese, as from these the pro- 



