206 
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Through April, May and half of June there was a full average 
make in all the cheese producing districts of England, but the 
quality was not so fine or the flavor so good as in former years. 
This is attributable to a cold, damp season, very unfavorable 
to the production of fine, or to the proper maturing of any sort 
of cheese. During the latter half of June and all through 
July, the weathef’ was fine and c’ear, with a full summer tern- 
perature. The heat was, in fact, at times excessive, and coming 
on the unprotected roots of the grass, just as the hay crop was 
removed, combined with an almost total absence of rain for 
some weeks, resulted in a very serious failure of the after¬ 
grass, and a great scarcity of food for cows for the time. As a 
consequence, the make fell off about one-third in quantity, but 
showed a great improvement in quality and flavor. Early in 
August came the long looked for rains, soon restoring the feed 
in the pastures, and up to the end of October there was a fair, 
but not excessive, make of average quality. In the beginning 
of November, a few sharp frosts tended to put an early stop 
to English cheese-making. In the districts around London, 
and some other large towns, the foot and mouth disease has 
been very prevalent among the cows. Coming at the fall of 
the year, this has necessitated the drawing of the daily supplies 
of milk for those cities from the nearest cheese-making districts, 
and has to some extent curtailed the making of late cheese. 
By the end of last March, the stocks of English cheese were 
more closely cleard out of dealers’ hands than was ever before 
known at that date. Prices for the first delivery of new cheese 
were very high, in spite of which, the demand all over the 
country has been unprecedentedly large the season through, 
and the best qualities have ruled much dearer in proportion 
than American. The price of the very finest sorts of English 
cheese has varied very little since the opening of the season. 
In the months of August and September the arrivals of Dutch 
and American cheeses were very heavy, and, as we have seen, 
went rapidly into consumption. But lower qualities of the 
home ( English) make began to accumulate, but in no part of 
the country so rapidly as in Cheshire and the adjoining county 
