242 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



tile- works, which make a million of drain-tiles in the year, 

 and these he gives gratuitously to his farmers. 



The most successful manure for these grass-lands is 

 bone-dust. Farmers willingly pay the proprietors seven per 

 cent of the expense for laying this powerful manure upon 

 the soil ; upon every four acres it gives them, they say, 

 sufficient extra food for an additional cow. Agricultural 

 chemistry explains perfectly how this wonderful effect is 

 produced. The phosphates are taken out of the soil by 

 the constant carrying away of the milk, and require to 

 be renewed. One to two tons of ground bones are used 

 to the acre, the effect of which is immediate, and lasts 

 from fifteen to twenty years. These bones come from 

 Manchester, where they have already undergone a process 

 which deprives them of their gelatine for glue. Thus, 

 industry and agriculture render each other mutual assist- 

 ance, and the third sister, science, brings them near, and 

 unites them modern divinities, which go hand in hand, 

 like the ancient sisters. We obtain like results with ani- 

 mal charcoal after it has been used in the sugar-refineries. 



The Cheshire cheeses weigh from fifty to one hundred 

 pounds each ; the largest are considered the best : some 

 smaller are made in the shape of pine-apples, but they are 

 not so much appreciated. It takes about four quarts of 

 milk to produce one pound of cheese. The red colour, 

 which distinguishes them, is produced with annotto, and 

 they are sometimes kept as much as three years before 

 being sold for consumption. The cooler for the milk, the 

 salting -tub, the large and powerful presses, the store 

 filled with these huge shapes, the well-kept utensils of 

 wood and iron, everything in these dairies wears an air 

 of comfort. The city of Chester, which is one of the most 

 curious towns in England, from the singularity of its con- 

 struction, carries on a considerable annual trade in cheeses. 



