1909.] 



Co-operative Bacon Curing. 



99 



upon which they have been drained, the mat keeping the 

 cheese in shape. 



A tough, leathery cheese is caused by too high a tempera- 

 ture or too quick drainage. On the other hand, if the cheeses 

 are spongy or soft the temperature at renneting has probably 

 not been high enough or the dairy has been too cold. The 

 cheeses are sent to market in wooden boxes containing several 

 trays, and a single layer of cheeses is placed on each tray. 

 They will realise from 8d. to lod. each cheese. 



It is important that all soft and fancy cheeses be packed 

 neatly and put on the market before they are fully ripe, as 

 being perishable goods they soon deteriorate and become 

 unsaleable. 



CO-OPERATIVE BACON CURING. 

 Loudon M. Douglas. 



Lecturer on the Meat Industry, Edinbtugh and East of Scotland College of Agriculture. 



Bacon curing as an organised industry has only come into 

 existence within the last half century. As far back, how- 

 ever, as 1705, we find that Edward Lisle, in his Observations 

 in Husbandry, refers to the Wiltshire cure of bacon, though 

 it was not until much later that a great expansion in the trade 

 in the County of Wiltshire caused the name associated with 

 this produce to become celebrated throughout the world. 

 The bulk of the bacon which is used in the United Kingdom 

 is still cured in what is known as the Wiltshire fashion, or 

 in whole sides, and there are at the present day several very 

 large factories in England in which it is the principal product. 

 In at least one of these factories the number of pigs handled 

 every week exceeds 2,000. Such a number is small, however, 

 in comparison with the numbers handled in some of the 

 packing houses of the United States, where it is no 

 uncommon thing to slaughter between 5,000 and 6,000 pigs 

 in one day. The treatment and quality of the meat, how- 

 ever, are much below the standard aimed at in the United 

 Kingdom, and notwithstanding the immense supplies of 

 bacon which reach our country from abroad, the high price 

 of the home product is on this account maintained. 



The early days of bacon curing in the middle of last 

 century gave little promise that it would become a great 



