Cheese Factories in Derbyshire. 
45 
stances. The Committee held meetings at Sudbury, Shardlow, 
Longford, Etwall, and VVeston-Underwood. Tlicy carefully in- 
spected the different sites, and noted all local circumstances 
having a practical bearing on the subject, the great desideratum 
being an unfailing supply of clean water, the lower and more 
equable the temperature the better. At each meeting a list was 
made of the names of those farmers willing to send their 
milk, and the number of cows belonging to each. The Hon. 
E. K. VV. Coke, of Longford, and C. E. Newton, Esq., of 
Etwall, both offered to furnish the Committee with the requisite 
buildings subject to the proposed guarantee. In deciding be- 
tween the two competitors, the vote of the majority was in favour 
of Longford. 
The Committee had thoroughly to investigate the merits of 
the different systems of cheesemaking practised in this country, 
and to decide upon that which appeared to them the most 
capable of expansion. The Cheddar system, as practised in 
the American factories, was considered to offer the greatest 
advantages, from its simplicity and the despatch with which the 
whole process of manipulation is performed, effecting a vast 
saving in the cost of labour. Through the kindness of a member 
of one of the leading London houses engaged in the importation 
of American cheese, and consequently having good business 
connections in New York, a cable message was dispatched to 
Messrs. Webb, Turner, and Co., of that city, to secure the ser- 
vices of a practical cheesemaker, his salary for the cheesemaking 
season to be 200/., with free passage to England and the same 
back to America, should he return home at the end of the first 
season, the Committee likewise to find him with board and 
lodgings during his engagement. Mr, Cornelius Schermerhorn 
Avas selected, being well known as a successful maker, and he arrived 
in Derby on the 11th March, 1870. A special meeting of the 
Committee was at once called, and mechanics were immediately 
set to work to construct the working plant and fit up the building 
ready for use. The site for the new factory was in many respects 
most favourably situated in the centre of a large dairy district, and 
bounded on one side by a public road. The greatest difficulty 
was to obtain a sufficient supply of water at a low temperature, 
though a considerable stream passed within a few yards of the 
building. During the height of summer, and with continued 
drought, the stream became sluggish ; and the water being exposed 
to the direct rays of the sun, its temperature rose to a greater 
height than is consistent with the making of good cheese, conse- 
quently the water for supplying the factory had to be conveyed in 
pipes' for a distance of upwards of a mile. This considerably en- 
hanced the cost, and as the season was now far advanced, and 
