222 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  11,  1897. 
The  value  of  Cheshire  cheese  retail  ranges  from  9d.  to  Is. 
per  lb.  ;  the  value  of  the  same  cheese  wholesale  this  autumn  was 
from  46s.  per  cwt.  to  20s.  per  cwt.  Someone  gets  an  enormous 
profit,  but  it  is  certainly  not  the  maker. 
A  dry  season  in  old  days  caused  a  certain  rise  in  the  value  of 
cheese,  and  the  maker  was  sure  of  a  fair  price.  Now  all  parts  of 
the  world  are  brought  so  near  that  any  shortcomings  in  Cheshire 
are  made  good  by  distant  lands,  and  the  farmer  has  to  bear  the  loss 
by  drought  without  any  proportionate  rise  in  price  as  compensa¬ 
tion.  Cheshire  and  Stilton  have  been  par  excellence  the  cheese  of 
Englishmen,  and  for  a  good  cheese  the  consumer  is  always  ready 
to  pay  a  fair  price. 
Nature  hurries  none  of  her  processes,  and  men  were  wise  while 
they  took  her  for  their  guide.  This  is  the  age  that  looks  for  quick 
returns.  A  year  is  a  long  time  to  keep  a  cheese  on  hand,  but  our 
forefathers  said  that  many  a  cheese  took  that  time  to  fully  ripen 
and  mature. 
We  call  in  the  aid  of  science  to  ripen  our  cheeses  in  a  month. 
We  want  to  see  the  milk  and  the  money  nearer  together.  But  see 
the  result.  Such  cheese  can  only  be  used  for  immediate  consump¬ 
tion  ;  it  has  no  keeping  properties,  and  once  a  cheese  begins  to  go 
wrong  the  case  is  hopeless. 
The  maker  by  his  rapid  methods  is  simply  cutting  his  own 
throat,  is  throwing  away  a  great  and  notable  industry,  and  playing 
into  the  hand  of  the  foreigner.  Good  cheese  and  cheap  can  be  had 
from  many  countries,  but  the  British  farmer  finds  his  greatest  rivals 
in  the  United  States  and  Canada.  There  was  a  time  when  a  bit  of 
“  American  ”  was  about  as  nasty  and  tough  a  morsel  aa  a  man  could 
eat,  but  now  the  case  is  quite  altered. 
In  the  year  1895  we  spent  5j  millions  on  foreign  cheese.  The 
United  States  took  £1,608,405,  and  Canada  £2,688,946.  Since  then 
the  supply  from  these  sources,  especially  from  Canada,  has  been 
much  reduced,  and  a  considerable  increase  of  price  has  been  the 
result ;  so  cheesemakers  are  again  buoyed  up  with  hope  for  the 
future.  Bat  what  has  happened  once  may  happen  again  ;  the 
Canadians  have  turned  their  attention  to  butter  making  at  present, 
but  they  may  return  to  cheese,  What  the  dairy  farmers  must  do 
is  imitate  the  example  of  their  competitors — make  a  cheese  that 
will  keep  as  long  as  it  is  wanted  to,  then  the  undue  forcing  of 
unnaturally  ripe  cheese  on  a  glutted  market  would  be  unnecessary, 
and  would  hardly  occur,  as  the  supply  could  be  controlled  to  suit 
the  demand. 
We  as  consumers  have  been  tempted  at  times  to  invest  in  a 
piece  of  ripe  cheese  (too  ripe),  tempted  by  price,  but  we  cannot 
remember  getting  anything  but  disgust  from  such  a  purchase,  and 
have  vivid  recollections  of  cheese  funerals.  Is  it  any  wonder, 
then,  that  the  public  fight  shy  of  such  gay,  though  strong,  deceivers, 
and  that  merchants  have  perforce  to  do  the  same  ? 
Every  year  seems  to  increase  our  foreign  competition.  Cable¬ 
grams  and  steam  have  much  to  answer  for.  Cold  storage  on  board 
ship  can  be  applied  to  any  article  of  food,  and  new  countries  are 
constantly  being  opened  up. 
What  will  the  rich  pastures  of  Argentina  do  in  the  near  future  ? 
There  are  long-headed  men  there,  cheese  plant  is  easily  transported, 
and  cheesemakers  too  for  the  matter  of  that.  We  have  let  our  best 
butter  trade  slip  out  of  our  fingers,  and  it  is  only  by  slow  and 
arduous  steps  we  are  getting  a  portion  of  it  back  again.  It  will 
never  do  to  lose  what  has  hitherto  been  one  of  our  specialities 
simply  because  we  are  so  bent  on  making  haste  to  be  rich.  “  Haste 
comes  of  the  Devil,”  says  the  old  Spanish  proverb.  We  have  had 
a  sharp  lesson,  may  we  profit  by  it. 
This  subject  of  cheese-making  is  a  very  wide  one,  and  a  real 
“  artiste  ”  in  cheese  is  a  clever  person.  Some  few  years  ago  when 
there  was  such  an  outcry  about  butter,  and  butter  makers  as 
teachers  were  in  great  request,  hundreds  of  girls  rushed  into  the 
business  ;  it  was  fairly  easy,  clean,  and  pretty  well  paid.  The 
consequence  is  that  now  the  market  is  overstocked,  and  we  know 
at  this  present  moment  in  our  own  small  circle  of  eight  really 
excellent  practical  teachers  who  cannot  find  a  day’s  work. 
J ust  at  the  same  time,  when  everyone  was  yearning  for  butter¬ 
making  work,  came  a  note  of  warning,  and  eager  learners  were 
urged  to  take  up  cheese-making  as  a  serious  pursuit  ;  but  the  hours 
were  long,  the  work  tedious,  and  no  one,  or  at  least  very  few, 
hearkened  to  the  prophet.  There  is  a  great  field  here  for  the 
industrious  sensible  woman — a  field  she  will  have  to  herself,  for  no 
dilettante  worker  need  apply  for  this  post. 
Professor  Fleishmann  says  (and  no  greater  authority  exists), 
“  The  art  of  cheese-making  is  much  more  difficult  than  that  of 
butter-making.  In  cheese-making  a  large  number  of  different 
conditions  have  to  be  reckoned  with,  and  their  different  influences 
have  to  be  considered  and  weighed  in  relation  to  one  another,  so 
that  they  may  all  conduce  to  their  definite  and  prescribed  end. 
To  do  so  requires  a  certain  measure  of  skill  and  experience. 
. The  art  of  cheese-making  requires  two  different 
qualifications — a  clear  understanding  on  the  one  hand  of  the  nature- 
and  action  of  all  the  processes  which  come  into  play  in  the  manu¬ 
facture  of  cheese,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  particular  object 
which  must  ever  be  kept  in  view  in  all  these  processes  and  in  the 
manufacture  of  all  kinds  of  cheese.” 
•  •  / 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
The  weather  has  again  been  fine  except  for  one  very  wet  night ;  the 
effect  of  this,  however,  was  soon  neutralised  by  high  wind,  and  the  land 
is  little  the  worse.  The  drill  is  at  work  now  almost  everywhere,  and 
spring  corn  is  going  in  well.  Everyone  seems  anxious  to  sow  early  this 
year,  and  after  last  season  we  do  not  wonder  at  it.  On  any  but  the  very 
lightest  soil  we  do  not  doubt  that  early  sowing  is  the  right  thing  if  the 
seed  bed  be  a  good  one  ;  but  good  it  must  be,  or  the  best  results  must 
not  be  expected. 
We  have  got  the  Wheat  rolled  and  some  harrowed.  We  think  farmers 
generally  are  too  much  afraid  of  harrowing  Wheat,  they  are  frightened 
of  harrowing  a  little  up  ;  but  the  Wheat  always  branches  to  such  an 
extent  after  harrowing  that  all  losses  of  plant  are  more  than  recouped. 
Lambing  is  now  in  full  swing.  So  far  luck  has  been  good.  A  fair 
fall  of  lambs,  and  with  good  health  a  small  loss.  This  is  generally  the 
case  in  a  season  of  Turnip  scarcity,  for  breeding  ewes  may  easily  get  toe- 
many  roots,  and  do  so  when  they  are  plentiful.  The  ewes  with  pairs 
require  better  food  than  those  with  but  one  lamb.  A  mixture  of  Oats, 
cotton  cake,  and  malt  culms  makes  a  capital  milk-producing  food  to 
give  with  Mangolds  and  grass.  The  sooner  the  lambs  are  got  out  into 
the  fields  the  better  ;  in  tact,  in  the  case  of  singles,  the  weather  being 
mild,  it  is  best  never  to  house  them  at  all.  Of  course  pairs  must  be 
penned  until  the  mother  has  quite  made  up  her  mind  to  adopt  both,  and 
the  weakest  lamb  is  well  able  to  get  about  after  her. 
When  half  the  lambing  season  has  passed  over  safely,  and  with  good 
success,  it  often  happens  that  there  is  a  change  for  the  worse ;  the  ewes  seem 
subject  to  attacks  of  feverishness  after  lambing,  and  take  a  good  deal  of 
nursing  up,  whilst  some  cases  end  fatally.  As  soon  as  a  second  or  third 
case  of  this  kind  is  noted  the  best  thing  to  do  is  to  move  the  ewes  to  a 
new  lair  altogether.  If  a  fresh  lambing  fold  for  night  lair  cannot  con¬ 
veniently  be  provided  the  old  one  must  be  cleaned  out,  watered  with 
disinfecting  fluid,  and  rebedded. 
OUR  LETTER  BOX. 
Cow  Keeping  (Novice). — The  18  acres  of  grass  will  be  useful  for 
the  cows  only  for  two  months,  August  and  September,  though  they 
might  be  allowed  to  run  out  during  the  day  as  long  as  the  weather  kept 
mild.  The  cost  for  the  rest  of  the  year  would  be  for  3  acres  of  grass 
from  May  1st  to  August  1st,  £5  (this  would  vary  with  the  locality). 
Winter  keep  varies  very  much  according  to  circumstances,  but  £10 
each  ought  to  pay  for  the  best  of  food  from  October  1st  to  May  1st. 
Add  £5  for  bedding  for  the  three,  and  you  have  £40  for  the  year.  This 
does  not  include  attention.  We  forgot  to  allow  for  cakej  on  grass, 
say  5  lbs.  each  of  cotton  cake  per  day  ;  this  would  add  £5  more, (and 
would  be  necessary,  especially  after  June. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
CJAMDBN  SQUABB,  LONDON. 
Lab.  51°  32' 40"  N. ;  Long.  0°  8/  0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
d 
*3 
as 
1897 
February 
and 
March. 
|  Barometer 
1  at  32°, and 
|  Sea  Level. 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot. 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Badiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Inchs. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Inchs. 
Sunday  ..  28 
30-047 
40-8 
39-8 
N.E. 
429 
49-6 
34-1 
60-3 
26-0 
0-099 
Monday  ..  1 
29  578 
42-4 
39  3 
S.W. 
43-2 
51-2 
39-3 
89-9 
33-3 
0-292 
Tuesday  ..  2 
29-772 
38-3 
36-2 
W.S.W. 
42-0 
48-4 
33-3 
90  9 
27-1 
0-493 
Wednesday  3 
28-746 
42-2 
38-2 
S.W. 
42-1 
42-3 
39-5 
49-7 
36-1 
0-131 
Thursday  . .  4 
29-484 
40-7 
38-1 
s. 
40-5 
50-6 
34-5 
83-9 
26-9 
0-111 
Friday  . .  5 
29-301 
38-8 
36-4 
S.W. 
39-9 
49-1 
34-1 
88-9 
23-6 
— 
Saturday  . .  6 
29-622 
39-4 
38  3 
N.W. 
39-9 
45-4 
34-9 
70-2 
26-7 
0-236 
29-507 
40-4 
38-0 
41-5 
48  1 
35-7 
76-3 
29-0 
1-362 
28th.— Generally  overcast,  with  a  little  drizzle  in  evening ;  gleams  of  sun  at  midday. 
1st.— Bright  sun  all  morning ;  slight  showers  in  afternoon ;  rain  from  6.30  to 
9.30  p.M. 
2nd. — Bright  sun  generally  till  8  P.M.,  then  halo,  and  overcast  after;  strong  gale 
with  heavy  rain  at  night. 
3rd.— Dull  and  rainy  early  ;  wet  snow  from  11.30  A.M.  to  0.80  P.M.,  turning  to  rain ; 
dry  after  2  P.M.,  an-1  sunny  about  4  P.M. 
4th. — Sun  early,  and  from  noon  to  3.30  P.M.;  overcast,  with  sharp  showers  between 
and  after. 
6th.— Sunny  almost  throughout. 
6th.— Overcast  with  frequent  rain  in  morning ;  fair  afternoon  with  a  little  sun ;  rain 
again  from  9  P.M.  to  11  P.M. 
Temperature  near  the  average,  rainfall  above  it.— G.  J.  SYMONS. 
