Private Factories.

Among private dairies, the following, which I have been able to inspect, may be tersely referred to in order to show what can be done by the adoption of the most perfect system of manufacture, the dairy of Colonel Curtis Hayward, near Gloucester, is in charge of a dairymaid who won an important prize at one of the Bath and west of England competitions. The herd of cattle comprises short-horns and Jerseys. The milk is separated every morning in the Laval machine, the cream is carefully ripened for churning, and the whole process is conducted with scrupulous care, skill, and cleanliness. Nothing is given to the cattle which can in any way affect the flavour of the butter, which has been frequently exhibited and awarded prizes. It seldom, if ever, varies in quality or colour, and is made up in the smartest possible form. It has thus obtained some notoriety, and Colonel Hayward is enabled to sell it at an unusually high price. In consequence of the reputation this butter has gained, Colonel Hayward was asked to read a paper on butter-making in the Cork market during the visit of the British Dairy-farmers' Association in 1887.

The dairy of Mr. Christopher Wilson, of Rigmaden Park, Westmoreland, is equally well arranged. The separator, the churn, and the butter-machine are worked by water-power with the assistance page 16 of a turbine. There is also a milk-testing machine in which small samples are subjected to centrifugal force. Mr. Wilson has trained his dairymaid, and is able to turn out a first-rate article in large quantities from the milk of his own shorthorn herd.

Mr. Cecil Molyneux Montgomerie, of East Harling, Norfolk, converts the milk from his own cows and that from some of his tenants into butter. He has the assistance of two persons—a man and a woman who have been well trained, and who do their work thoroughly. The cream, which is obtained from a Laval machine, is ripened in white earthenware jars in a separate apartment, which can be cooled in summer. After churning the butter-grains are placed in the delaiteuse, this machine extracting the moisture from it. It is then made up for despatch to London and Norwich without being placed upon a butter-worker. The motive-power in this dairy is a Stockport gas-engine, which has given every satisfaction. It can be started in a few minutes, and can practically be left to itself.

In the above instances landlords have shown what can be done by a careful study of the subject. The next instance is that of a tenant-farmer living in my own neighbourhood. This gentleman, at his wits' end to know how to farm with profit under present conditions, was induced to turn his attention to the dairy. An apartment was prepared with a good tiled floor and smooth whitewashed walls. Upon one side he arranged a number of Jersey creamers, through which cold water is constantly passing. He obtained good shorthorn cows, and feeds them with considerable care, with the object of obtaining a rich and abundant milk-supply. He learned how to do the work himself before intrusting others either with the process of churning, skimming, or making up his butter. In the course of a few months, by the exercise of some energy in making his produce known, and especially by exhibiting it, he was enabled to reach the highest price in the neighbourhood, and to sell 100lb. a week. This success induced him to commence the sale of the skim-milk, and it is probably true at this moment that the rent of the farm, upon which grain is the principal crop, is being paid by a dairy of very moderate dimensions.

Butter-making is a subject which is not difficult to master. My friend Professor Carroll, when Director of the Minister Institute, where butter-making is largely taught to the peasantry of the South of Ireland, sent a number of exhibits to the dairy-show which was held in Birmingham some years ago. This was before so much work had been done in spreading a knowledge of practical dairying throughout the country. The result was that the Minister School took a large number of the leading prizes. From year to year I have made it my business to ascertain from some of the principal exhibitors at the London Dairy-show what systems they follow, and I find that, as a rule, they all recognise one (the proper) system, although they may vary it in some unimportant points. The champion butter 1887 was made in the dairy of a clergyman in Bucks from the milk page 17 his Jersey cows, whose food consisted only of clover-hay, oats, bran, cotton-cake, and grass—all, be it remarked, suitable butter-foods. The butter was washed while in the grain, the salt being added to the cream. The next important prize-taker at that year's show was Mr. Tanner, a Sussex farmer, who milks from forty to fifty cows, which are cross-bred, but strongly marked with the Guernsey breed. These cows get 3lb. of cotton-cake per head per day during the whole year. The butter in question was therefore made from grass and cotton-cake, as the cows were not taken in until November. The same maker took the prize for potted butter at the June show of the Bath and West of England Society, the principal food of the cows at the time having been mangels. This gentleman uses a separator and a butter-worker. Numbers of other instances could be given of farmers as well as of landowners who, by studying butter-making for themselves, have been able to obtain prizes in public, and high prices for all the fine butter they can produce.