Somersetshire Farm-Prize Competition, 1875. 
543 
about 3 inches square, and left to cool ; when sufficiently cool, it 
is put into the vat and placed in the press for half an hour, after 
which it is taken out and passed through the curd-mill, and 
spread in a wooden vat or cooler of about 3 feet by 5 feet to 
cool and toughen. When the curd is sufficiently cool, 2 lbs. of 
salt are added to the cwt., and it is placed again in the vat and 
pressed, the pressure being equal to nearly one ton weight. It 
remains in the press till next morning, when the cloth is changed ; 
a thin calico cloth is put on the cheese the second day ; on the 
third or fourth day it is taken from the press to the cheese-room, 
and a strong linen bandage is laced tightly around it. It is 
turned daily for some little time, and less frequently as it ripens, 
three months is generally about the time for it to become market- 
able. The cheese-room is ke^it at a temperature of about 60° 
Fahr. by means of a stove in the room " to ripen " the cheese. 
Mr. Gibbons's cheese has a wide reputation, having taken 
nearly thirty prizes in many counties at home, and it obtained 
the gold medal at the Fi-ench Exhibition in 1865. 
Mrs. Gibbons, as before stated, takes the superintendence of 
the cheese-making, and is assisted only by a girl, at 9Z. per 
annum. The cost of making here contrasts favourably with any 
factory system, so far as actual out-of-pocket expenses are con- 
cerned. Three or four women are engaged to milk. They are 
paid Is. per day for morning and evening. 
The whey is used for feeding pigs. 200 or 300 qrs. of corn 
are purchased for fattening the pigs, which are usually bred on 
the farm. The whole of the drainage from the house-piggery 
and yards is conveyed to a tank in an adjoining field, which 
lies on the side of a hill. A cart is set on the lower side, a screw- 
plug is turned, and the sewage flows into the barrel, and is 
distributed over the poorer portion of the field. Its effects are 
very marked. It is also used for drilling the root crops grown 
on the farm. 
Second Prize Farm. 
OUBLEY Faem, near Bristol, occupied by Mr. Robert Alfred 
Day, to Avhich the Judges awarded the Second Prize offered in 
the class of Dairy Farms, contains 24 acres of arable and 156 
acres of pasture land. 
Situation and Geology. — The farm lies 12 miles south of 
Bristol, and, with tlie exception of 29 acres of pasture on the 
Mendip range itself, rests at the base of the Mendip Hills. 
The lower land is on the new red marl, and the hill pasture 
jpon the limestone shales. 
