534' Tlie Berkshire Farm Prize Competition, 1882. 
is a joint stock company called " the Wieringerwaarder Maat- 
schappij tot bereiding van Kaas." It receives the milk of about 
160 cows from eight contributors, who skim the evening's 
milk in the morning and mix it with the unskimmed morning's 
milk, sending the mixture to the factory, where it is made into 
Edam-shaped cheese, which last October (1879) was said to be 
selling at about oOs. per cwt., or rather more than bd. per 
gallon of milk. According to the rules passed in 1872, the 
contributors were to receive five cents (1</.) per kilo for their 
milk, or not quite bd. per gallon ; this price was to be paid in 
two instalments, viz., three-fifths every fortnight and two-fifths 
at the end of every quarter. Cheese is made twice a day in 
vats of the square American pattern. The rennet is added at a 
temperature of 84° Fahr., and the milk is left for an hour. The 
curd is then cut by gang-knives, first vertically, then hori- 
zontally, and then transversely, as thoroughly as possible, and is 
then cooked up to 94° Fahr. About 80 cheeses, weighing two 
kilos (4^ lbs.) each, are made daily in October, but of course 
the number varies with the time of year and the character of 
the season. 
XXX. — The Berkshire Farm Prize Competition, 1882. By 
J. H. Blundell, Woodside, Luton, Bedfordshire. 
" The daily blessings received mankind from the hand of Agriculture, 
and the increased comfort and wealth which every nation enjoys where 
husbandry is improved, are in themselves reasons, sufficiently urgent, to 
engage the attention of every person, who has the power of promoting its 
extension." — Mr. Peaece's Eeport on Berksliirc to the Board of Agriculture, 
1794." 
Reading, the capital town of the Royal County, being the site 
selected this year for the Country Meeting of the Royal Agri- 
cultural Society, the Local Committee offered the handsome sum 
of 225/., in four Prizes, for the best cultivated dairy, arable, or 
mixed farms in the county, or situated wholly or in part 
within a radius of 20 miles from the Town Hall of Reading. 
The Prizes were divided into two classes, viz. Class 1, for the 
best managed Farm above 200 acres in extent, lOOZ. ; for the 
second best, 50/. Class 2, for the best managed Farm above 
50 and not exceeding 200 acres, 50/. ; for the second best, 25Z. 
The public spirit, as evidenced by the liberal subscriptions 
from which this fund was raised, recalls the time when — 
" Far back in the ages, 
Tlie plough with wreaths was crowned; 
The hands of Kings and Sages 
Entwined the cliaplet round ; 
