DALGIG TO AYR. 281 



flocked to them from Galloway and elsewhere. Mr. 

 Robert McxA.dam (who is now, we believe, near 

 Newcastle-tmder-Lyme) was one of their most strenu- 

 ous pupils, and turning from Cheshire he intro- 

 daced the Cheddar practice so successfully into Gallo- 

 way that they were making their 73s. per cwt. when 

 Ayrshire was only equal to 60s., and they have never 

 been quite caught yet. Their strong, old land and 

 cleverer keeping give them an advantage over the 

 Ayrshire cold clays. The farms are generally larger 

 and the milk and cream richer ; in fact, the wilder 

 the country the richer the milk, like an egg laid in 

 the muirlands. Still even these natural advantages and 

 strength of feeding, when not aided by science in the 

 making, produced a very strong and bad flavoured 

 cheese. 



The first Ayrshire Association Cheese Show was 

 held at Kilmarnock in 1856, and Kirkcudbright- 

 shire, Wigtownshire, and Argyllshire have all figured 

 in the lists. Draining, green-cropping, careful stock 

 selection, and better house feeding have largely 

 swelled the cheese produce of Ayrshire ; and al- 

 though thirty may be called the average both in it 

 and Galloway, there are dairies with eighty to a 

 hundred cows, and one farmer will occasionally 

 have ty,o or three sets. 



The cheese season begins in May, and lasts 

 till the end of September. Cheese made late, be- 

 tween harvest-home and Martinmas (Nov. 22), is 

 seldom good, and the great bulk of bowers give up 



