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Report on the Cheese Factory Si/stem ; 
dairymaids ; and (2) those in which it is made clilefly by the 
fanner's wife or daughters. With few exceptions the former 
class of dairy-farmers would, we find, be glad to send their milk 
to a factory under certain conditions, most of them preferring the 
idea of selling it at a fixed price per gallon. Their chief induce- 
ment is the difficulty of getting and keeping good dairymaids. 
This fact is also the reason why few such men are exclusively 
dairy-farmers, even where their land is better adapted for dairying 
than for feeding. The element of uncertainty prevents a dairy- 
man from "putting all his eggs in one basket;" but remove 
that uncertainty, and the whole of the farmer's ca, ital and energy 
would be embarked in the more profitable branch of his business. 
Again, hired dairymaids seldom make such good cheese as the 
farmer's wife, because they have no real interest in the result, so 
that in dairy districts it is proverbial that the only way to make 
good cheese is "to marry the dairymaid." Although the cost of 
cheese-making, curing, &c., would probably be somewhat reduced 
on such farms, this is altogether a secondary consideration, and 
may be regarded as unimportant when compared with the pro- 
bably increased price obtained for the cheese, and the extension 
of dairying at the expense of feeding. 
On the other farms we have a totally different and much more 
complicated question; and as they form the great bulk of those 
devoted more or less to dairying, its discussion deserves the most 
careful consideration.* The cheese being made either by the 
farmer's wife or one or more of his daughters, he considers that 
the labour costs him nothing ; that the work is a duty in the 
former case, and a wholesome discipline in the latter. A servant 
is kept, who assists in the cheese-making ; but if the milk were 
sent to the factory she would still be required lor the house-work. 
In larger dairies, perhaps two, or even three, female servants are 
kept ; but, it is urged, that if cheese were not made at home, and 
all but one of these discharged, an extra man would be required 
to take the milk to the factory. Such is the argument, and while 
those ideas prevail, it admits of no direct answer, except with 
regard to the conveyance of milk. If, as would probably be the 
case, the milk were taken to the factory by the carrier, the ex- 
pense would be a trifle compared with the wages of an extra 
man ; but, if not, a boy could do the work, and there are few 
farms from which this small additional daily labour could not be 
obtained from the existing staff. Discarding this objection as 
of no great weight, let us endeavour to estimate the money value 
* I am much indebted to Mr. Joseph Aston, of Brassey Green, Tarporley, for a 
yaluable suggestive letter on this poi-tiou of niy subject; but that geutlemau must 
not be held responsible for my statements. — H. M. J. 
