212 SHROPSHIRE 



The farm we had come to see was not extensive, 

 only no acres and all in grass, but it was a remark- 

 able example of what hard work and thoughtful 

 management can make of the land. The farming was 

 based on the production of Cheshire cheese, there being 

 round Oswestry a small colony of cheese makers who 

 had originally migrated from Cheshire. On the farm 

 there were then 58 cows in milk, which, with their 

 calves, represented very heavy stocking for so small an 

 area, and, indeed, necessitated, with the pigs which were 

 also an essential feature of the system, a yearly 

 expenditure of nearly 5 an acre on feeding stuffs. 

 The cows, mostly of a Shorthorn type, were all 

 bought in when ready to drop their second or third 

 calf, and were sold again when dry in a forward 

 condition to be finished off for the butcher. The 

 calves were reared and sold, but no breeding was 

 attempted, the grass being all wanted for the produc- 

 tion of milk ; for the same reason little attention was 

 paid to breed in buying in, provided the cows seemed 

 likely to yield a good supply of milk. Cheese-making 

 was in full swing, and we saw the great mass of curd 

 being gathered to one end of the vat, preparatory to 

 draining off the whey, after which the curd is placed on 

 a hot stone over a small fire over-night to bring out 

 the rest of the whey, and is then divided and packed 

 into the wooden tubs which form the mould. Cheshire 

 is a soft curd cheese that is to say, in comparison 

 with a cheese like Cheddar ; in its manufacture the 

 milk is not allowed to develop much acidity before 

 curdling, nor is the curd afterwards encouraged to 

 shrink and toughen by growing acidity and a high 

 temperature, nor, again, is the made cheese subjected 

 to the same amount of pressure. The result is a more 

 rapidly ripening and softer product indeed, a good 



