FOREIGN DAIRYING. 105 



paste, which, as we saw at Madame Nielsen's, was poured 

 into a kind of mortar and there beaten with a pestle by 

 seven or eight dairy-maids in turn, until it was ready to 

 place in the mould, where it remained for pressure foi 

 about two or three days, when it was sold to be eaten 

 fresh. This cheese can be improved by the addition of new 

 milk or cream during the process of heating. 



FRANCE. 



Although the dairy is part and parcel of the system 

 of agriculture in almost every part of France, it is 

 hardly necessary, perhaps, to say, that it is much more 

 extensive, and far more perfect in its arrangements in the 

 Northern than in the Southern departments, where the 

 culture of the grape is more suitable to the climate, and 

 congenial to the people. It is true that the cultivation of 

 the breed of dairy cattle and the manufacture of the 

 famous cheeses peculiar to France, are conducted in 

 many districts in the centre and west of the country ; but 

 perhaps there are none which can approach those of 

 Calvados and La Manche, whether it be in the manufacture 

 of cheese and butter, the system of cropping for dairy 

 purposes, or the production of the highest quality of dairy 

 cattle. This being the case, the general remarks which 

 follow have particular reference to those departments, 

 which may be taken as an example of the highest class of 

 dairy farming in France. 



The cows principally preferred are those of the Cotentin 

 race large fleshy animals of fine quality, and magnificent 

 milkers. These animals, together with the luxuriant pas- 

 ture of these departments of Normandy, have much to 

 do with the system which has been adopted and raised to 



