THE DAIRY. 291 



is added the milk of the previous evening deprived of its 

 cream, which is made into butter. The single Gloucester, 

 therefore, contains only half the natural cream of the milk ; 

 yet it is so admirably made, that it excels that of other dis- 

 tricts where the whole cream is consumed. The double 

 Gloucester, the greater part of which is produced in the hun- 

 dred of Berkley, is made of the milk with all its natural 

 cream. It is the most generally esteemed kind of cheese 

 produced in England, possessing all the richness that ought 

 to be required, with a mild and grateful flavour. Although 

 Gloucestershire still retains its pre-eminence, the same kind 

 of cheese is produced in all the neighbouring counties. The 

 Berkley cheeses are purchased by the cheese-factor about 

 Michaelmas : he judges of the quality by the blue colour of 

 the skin appearing through the red dye with which their 

 surface is tinged : he used to walk over each cheese ; if it 

 yielded to the pressure of the foot, it was said to be heaved, 

 and was rejected as unfit for the London market. The Vale 

 of Berkley alone is computed to produce annually from a 

 thousand to twelve hundred tons of these unrivalled cheeses. 



From Gloucester the manufacture of cheese, on the large 

 scale, extends into Oxfordshire, and up the Avon into War- 

 wickshire, which is computed to produce above twenty thou- 

 sand tons annually, and into all the neighbouring districts. 

 The county of Somerset likewise abounds in dairies, but ap- 

 plied as much to the production of butter as of cheese. The 

 marshes between Bridgewater and Cross produce a fine oily 

 cheese ; and that of the Vale of Cheddar has something 

 of the flavour of Parmesan. In North Wiltshire, likewise, 

 are many dairies. The cheese is prepared nearly in the 

 same manner as that of Gloucester. It is mild and agree- 

 able : the cheeses are small, and being made into fanciful 

 forms, as pine-apples, and the like, are widely distributed in 

 the towns. 



The next great cheese-manufacturing district is Cheshire, 

 which has been earlier distinguished for this production than 



