Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

 BRITAIN AT WORK. consists of four different kinds, namely, Cheshire, Cheddar, Gloucester, and Stilton. Of these, the first two are by far the most popular, judged from the amount consumed. It will be noticed that all these cheeses derive their names from the county or district in which they are made. The first and third speak for themselves, and are comprehensively christened ; the second is named after a village, Cheddar, in Somersetshire; and the last is from Stilton, in Hunting- donshire. Although all these places can claim to have initiated their respective dietary industry, a large cheese. Dexterous handling of ingredients and implements is, of course, an important factor, but the question of temperature appears to have a considerable bearing upon the subject, though experts differ on the point. Farmers have been known to produce good cheese under conditions, so far as temperature is concerned, in direct contradiction to all recognised and accepted Photo: Cassell & Co., Ltd. DEVONSHIRE BUTTER MAKERS AT WORK. quantity of cheese is imported into this country, placed on the market and sold in the name of the home-made article. A great deal of the cheese which is consumed in Great Britain as Cheddar or Cheshire is nothing of the kind, if locality counts for anything, but comes from America, Aus- tralia, or New Zealand. Of course, the process of manufacture may be imitated, but there is such a knack—a mysterious, intan- gible kind of skill—in cheese making that one might justifiably question the capacity of the imitator. Even experienced British dairy-farmers are at a loss to adequately explain what is the precise nature of the agency which conduces to a thoroughly good notions on the subject. But they could not explain how their success came about. The principal processes of cheese making are much the same all through, but for the purposes of illustration we will take the production of a Cheshire cheese, at Lea Hall Farm, Aldford. Here we have a typical Cheshire dairy-farm. Everything about the place is scrupulously clean. We follow a consignment of milk into an apartment which contains a long cheese-vat on wheels. The vat is metal- lined, and there is a hollow space all round, between the outside casing and the recep- tacle, which holds the milk. This is a hot-water chamber, used only in the cold