Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

BUTTER AND CHEESE MAKING. 135 fore serve, generally, as a type of the many other similar establishments to be found in the British Isles, and which are all conducted less on the same lines. Butter making does not require so much work or detail as cheese. Mostdairy- farmers more or butter-worker. The latter is a large wooden a e s. the BUTTER ON REVOLVING WORKER. of cheese makers and MILK PASSING THROUGH REFRIGERATOR. make a speciality of one particular branch of the in- dustry : with one it may be cheese, with another milk, and so on. But all, without ex- ception, make butter, either on a large or a small scale. In the case milk dealers and suppliers, it is the super- fluous milk which is converted into butter. A large tank is kept for the reception of this, which is subsequently carried away through pipes to a warm chamber below, in which the temperature is slightly higher than that of the milk when it comes from the cow. It then passes through a refrigerator into a separator, the skim escaping on one side, and the cream through a tap on the other. The former is forced up again into another tank, and being too poor for any other purpose is sold to bakers, who use it in making pastry. The cream is caught in pails, which are stood in a bath of cold water for the space of twenty-four hours for the cream to “ ripen.” It is then turned into a wooden churn, when in twenty minutes it is thick enough to be taken out on small wooden bats, placed in a tub, washed, and put upon the revolving contrivance, propelled by machinery, and an idea of its character may be gathered from our illustration. The butter is placed on a circular table, sloping outwards, and with radiating corrugations ; immediately above this is a protruding cone of wood, also corrugated. The two work in opposite directions, and the butter between them is effectively “ worked.” When this is com- plete it is ready to be packed in whatever form it is required. Where quick distribu- t i o n takes place, it is i m mediately done up into i-lb. and 2-lb. p a c k a From the be- ginning to end the ma- terial is never once touched by hand. The above remarks apply to the best class of butter. There are, of course, inferior articles made — such as margarine — into which cer- WORKING A LARGE CHURN. (Photos specially taken at the Aylesbury Dairy Company's Chief Dairy). tain pro- cesses of salting and colouring enter largely into the manufacture. Cheshire is the heart of our cheese-making industry. Although cheese is produced in various forms, the bulk of that consumed