On Cheese-making in Home Dairies and in Factories. 297 
been sent for manufacture to the manager and machinery of the 
neighbouring factory, both selected respectively for their skill 
and fitness. 
At Mickleover 107,852 gallons of milk, received last year 
from 250 cows in April and afterwards, till November, pro- 
duced 102,882 lbs. of green cheese. And if we here again as- 
sume a shrinkage of 10 per cent., there must have been a sale of 
upwards of 38 tons. The cheese made at this factory up till the 
date of my inquiry had made an average price of 85s. per cwt. 
of 120 lbs. The labour in this case cost 140/., fuel 18/., materials 
12/. — 170/. in all, or rather more than 45. Aid. per cwt. The 
labour employed and paid for here could have dealt with double 
the quantity of milk ; the materials employed were, of course, 
in proportion to the milk on which they were employed. Another 
year will see the larger Mickleover factory at work, when the 
excessive charge per cwt. for labour will be reduced. The price 
obtained here, indicates the superior quality of the manufacture, 
to which reference has been already made. 
At Longford 246,553 gallons of milk had been made into 
250,133 lbs. of green cheese ; 84|^ tons had been sold, at an 
average price of 82a\ 3f(/. per 120 lbs. Of the costs during the 
past year in this case I have no information. 
The particulars given, imperfect though they are, will, I be- 
lieve, convince the majority of cheese-makers who know the 
maximum quotations of the cheese-market to have been always 
lar above their experience — especially any who may have been 
in the habit of calculating the costs incurred in their dairies 
against the quantity of their manufacture — that both excellence 
and economy of manufacture are, as might have been expected, 
especially achieved in factories where large quantities of the 
raw material are dealt with by the greater skill and the best 
machinery that can be procured or hired. 
The number, however, of those who have been in the habit 
of accurate and quantitative observation in English dairies is, 
unfortunately, very small. It is one advantage of the factory 
system that it at once awakens all who contribute to it to the 
questions of quality and quantity. The weight of the milk 
received from each contributor is recorded daily, the quantity 
of green cheese made is every day ascertained, the shrinkage 
before sale is known, and, under co-operative management, 
every one is on the look-out for deficient results of any kind. 
The " patrons " of a factory know perfectly how much milk it 
takes to make a pound of cheese ; but, though they had been 
making cheese for years and generations previously, not one 
in a hundred of them knew for certain anything about it 
before. 
