104 
Cheshire Cheese. 
Number of Cows kept, and Produce. — The number of cows kept 
for the purposes of a cheese dai7-y is seldom less than 8 or 10, or 
more than 70 or 80 ; and is of course regulated by the size of the 
farms — these average about 90 or 100 statute acres^ upon each of 
which about 15 or 1 8 cows are kept. From 18 cows, a cheese of 
from 36 lbs. to 54 lbs. weight is made daily during four or five 
months of the summer.* The annual produce of cheese per cow 
depends both upon the quality of the animal (with the mode of 
keeping her) and of the land, or rather the herlage. I have 
known many farmers sustain great loss by not feeding their cattle 
sufficiently well in winter. With judicious management, about 
3 cwt. of cheese (of 112 lbs.) may be considered as the average 
amount made per annum upon land let for 30s. a statute acre ; 
but in a few instances 5 cwt. per cow, and even more, is some- 
times made. This can only be from a small and choice stock. 
The Season. — It is the practice amongst farmers in this county 
to arrange so as to have most of their cows calving in the months 
of March and April ; and so soon as the calves are fed or dis- 
posed of, the cheese-making commences, and continues (excepting 
in small dairies) to nearly the end of the year. In January and 
February the quantity of milk obtained is often so small that the 
farmer prefers selling it in the neighbouring towns or making it 
into butter. There are however instances, in large dairies (of 70 
or 80 cows), of cheese being made throughout the year. 
Milking. — The operation commences about five o'clock in the 
morning, and five or six in the evening. In this county it is the 
practice for most of the servants, both men and maids, to assist, 
and for the cows to be milked in the cowhouses (called here 
" shippons ") all the year round. When, as is usual, there is one 
milker for every six or seven cows, the milking seldom exceeds an 
hour and a quarter. 
The milk of new-calved cows is not mixed with the other until 
about lour or five days after calving. 
Offices and Utensils. — As the evening's milk is seldom made 
into cheese until the following morning, and sometimes in small 
dairies (where four " meals " are used) not until the second 
morning, a cool " milk-house " is necessary ; on which account it 
usually occupies that side of the farm-house least exposed to the 
sun. The utensils in which the milk is kept are usually portable 
shallow earthenware vessels called "pan-mugs," and in some 
* The Marquess of Cholmondeley and Mr. ToUemache, M P., with a 
laudable desire to encourage the suspension of Sunday labour, have, for 
several years, offered through the South Cheshire Agricultural Society a 
prize of '20/. to such farmer as shall have made the best cheese without 
infringing on the Sabbath rest. Although this prize has, I believe, been 
regularly claimed, yet, from a variety of causes, the practice of making 
cheese on the Sabbath, as on other days, is still very general. 
