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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 68

Education in Dairy-Work

Education in Dairy-Work.

There are three methods of educating those who desire to learn dairy-work, which are adopted in Great Britain. The first is the employment of an itinerant teacher, who is paid a sum of money for his services during the six summer months, together with certain expenses. His duty is to go from farm to farm giving demonstrations in the dairy attached to each, actually making cheeses or assisting the farmers to do so, at the same time giving them full details not only of the process which he recommends, but the reason for it. When difficulties arise, or have arisen, he is able to afford assistance and to give such advice and aid as will enable them to make cheese of higher quality. The success of this system has been marked, especially in the south-west of Scotland, where so many of the Cheddar-makers farm, and where the London Dairy-show champion! of 1888 resides. The quality of the Scotch cheeses made under the instructions of the teachers who have been employed in their dairy districts fully disposes of the oft-repeated assertions that high-class Cheddar cannot be made out of the County of Somerset. I was asked by the chairman of one of the large Scotch societies to recommend a competent teacher for the summer of 1868, but was unable to do so. Ultimately, I believe, a Canadian was engaged at a fee of £200 for the six months, in addition to travelling and other expenses. Dairy-schools such as those in the County of Cheshire (the one at Worleston and the other near Tarporley) afford other means of instruction; but in order to obtain the advantages they afford it is necessary to reside either at the schools or in the immediate neighbourhood. The Worleston School was started by a number of Cheshire men, with Mr. Rigby at their head. Its head-quarters are situated in a farmhouse the property of Colonel Cotton, M.P., no of the rooms having been adapted to the requirements of cheese page 71 find butter-making, although in a somewhat primitive manner, yet they answer their purpose. The best implements and appliances are used, and for a certain period during the year cheese is made every day.

During the first year the manager was Mr. Willis, a member of an old cheese-making family, who has now started a school of his own. In the past year he was succeeded by Mr. Siddorn, son of a famous cheesemaker near Tarporley, who, like one of the Willis family, took a very valuable champion prize some years ago. Butter-making is taught by Miss Connell, formerly a pupil at the Minister Dairy-school in the south of Ireland. Forty people passed through the school during the first year, remaining for periods of from one to seven weeks. On one occasion, when acting as judge with Professor Carroll, of Dublin, I remember one of Miss Connell's pupils beating her in the butter-making competition, thus testifying to the valuable nature of the teaching she had received. Here the pupils assist in making both the butter and cheese. I confess to feeling some doubt whether more than three or four pupils should be accepted at a practical school of this kind at one time. In one or two of the Swiss Schools three pupils at the most are taken, and these are required to May for a given period. The principle is asserted that a pupil must to through the daily routine of work, and it is claimed that he cannot do this if he is one of several, for all of whom work could not be pro-vided. If a pupil is engaged in making a cheese every day under the direction of an expert teacher he has every chance of becoming expert himself; but if he remains at a school for a week or two only, and during that time only one of several pupils, he has little chance of becoming skilled in making an article which requires some expertness as well as the exercise of considerable judgment. A large quantity of cheese and butter is made at the Cheshire school. In 1887, for example, the milk used amounted to 38,000 gallons; nearly 13 tons of cheese and 2,582lb. of butter being made, together with 350lb. of whey-butter. The pupils paid £95 in fees, and cost £30 15s. for board, whereas the expenses, including salaries, amounted to £232. This school has now received a grant of £150 from the Government. The school which is conducted by Mr. Willis is worked upon a similar basis. Although I have had the advantage of seeing the Worleston school I have not seen that conducted by Mr. Willis, the maker who at the recent Cheshire Show was awarded a gold medal for his fine pitch of cheese. It is evident that in cases of this I kind pupils, most of whom are young people, receive considerable benefit, and are prepared to go into their dairies at home or to take Stations, and thus assist others in the work. The custom at the French dairy-schools, which are now becoming numerous, and which are assisted by Government, is to take young people for a certain time. The pupils remain for a term, and pay very small fees, as they chiefly belong to the poorer classes. They attend lectures every day, and assist in the manufacture of both butter and cheese; but page 72 from what I have personally seen (one of my own family having been through a course at one of these institutions) they do not appear to be sufficiently prepared either to start for themselves or to take responsible situations unless they remain at the school for at least a year.

Another system of teaching has recently been started by the British Dairy-farmers' Association at their Institute at Aylesbury. In this case a convenient country house, to which the dairy is attached, is occupied by a matron, who is practically in charge of the female pupils, who sleep and board upon the premises; male pupils, although they also take their meals at the Institute, lodging outside. The house is neatly but usefully furnished. There is a convenient lecture-, reading-, or writing-room. The dairy, a plain but substantial building, is divided into four apartments—one for the setting of milk and separation of cream, a second for churning and washing up, the other two being for cheese-making while overhead is an apartment adapted for the ripening of the cheese. A very large garden and a small paddock are attached, and upon a large dairy-farm near at hand conveniences are afforded for outside study and experiment. Moderate fees are charged for instruction, while the fees for board and lodging are calculated upon the basis of cost. The manager of this institute, a pupil of my own, was awarded the diploma of the association for his knowledge of the "science and practice of dairying and dairy-farming." Lectures are announced to be given from time to time by scientific and practical men upon various dairy-subjects. At this institute it is possible for the pupils to learn to make several of the most important dairy products, such as Cheddar, Cheshire, Stilton, Gorgonzola, French, and cream cheeses.

There is another system of teaching which has recently been adopted with some success by the Bath and West of England Society. A building is engaged in a selected town for a week or two, dairy implements are provided, together with milk or cream, and butter-making is daily conducted by two dairymaids who have been engaged for the purpose. Visitors are allowed to watch the process, and pupils are invited to learn. This may be described as a migratory "school; but were such a plan adopted in New Zealand it would be necessary that the teachers should possess higher attainments, being not only able to make butter, but to thoroughly explain the reasons for each process and to advise any practical farmer who has any difficulty to overcome. Working-dairies are now becoming general in many agricultural districts. For some years they have been provided at the Royal Agricultural Society, the Bath and West of England, the Manchester and Liverpool, and other meetings, At the Bath and West of England meetings I have myself been engaged for four successive years in giving lectures during the exhibition, as well as in giving demonstrations in the manufacture of cheese. At the Manchester and Liverpool Exhibition, at the Somerset Society's meeting, at the Cheshire Dairy-show, as well as at the London Dairy- page 73 show, and on many less important occasions, I have also given demonstrations and lectured upon practical dairy-subjects; and it is my experience that the cheese-making as well as the butter-making farmers are interested in this work, for not only do they ask numerous questions in public, but they follow up their demand for information in private, both verbally and by letter. Being very strongly of opinion that the very best cheese and butter are made upon the farm, and not in the factory, in the ordinary sense of that word, believe that it will be to the interest of New Zealand farmers to embrace every opportunity of receiving instruction and of obtaining information which is afforded them, rather than to leave the matter in the hands of managers of factories, who, while undoubtedly doing everything in their power to succeed, are not, I submit, able to control the quality and the condition of milk received in bulk, as it is from numerous farms, so well as the producer, who is able to deal with it immediately it comes from the cow. Upon the farm the milk is produced from cows which are probably of a similar character, which are all fed alike, and which are managed with every care. This milk is not subject to the shakings of a journey, and a loss of temperature and the necessity of being reheated; and I believe that in good hands it would always make a better cheese than milk which is the mixed produce of a number of farms, obtained from cattle of all kinds, which have been fed under various conditions.

Among Continental dairy-schools, I may point to one which I have fully described in an article upon education in dairy-farming in the 20th volume of the "Transactions of the Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland," and which was prepared at the request of the Committee. This school is at Reggio, in Emilia, and is attended I by young men who desire to learn the science and practice of dairy-farming. They not only work in the dairy, in the cowhouse, and I in the piggery, but they are taught the elements of physics and chemistry, and obtain practice in the use of instruments of milk control and analysis. Each day four hours and a half are devoted to theoretical study. Pupils who board and lodge in the school pay £16 yearly, and every pupil who had taken his diploma had obtained employment when he desired it up to the time of my visit. The school is chiefly supported by the Government. It is provided with Shorthorn, Dutch, Swiss, and native dairy-cattle, and with English and native pigs. The four leading varieties of cheese of the country are made in the four seasons of the year, and butter is also regularly made; a student, therefore, who passes through the school, which is most practically arranged, can, if he chooses, obtain a thorough knowledge of the manufacture of the leading articles of Italian dairy-produce. Professor Zanelli, the director, considers that to be successful a dairy-school should be provided with cattle, more especially as these largely contribute to maintain communication Between the school and the farmers throughout the district.

Although much has been done in connection with dairy educa- page 74 tion, we have all much to learn; and there are not only problems of the utmost importance which need solution, but in most countries there is a great need for an establishment to which dairymen and dairy-farmers can apply for the elucidation of difficult questions, for analysis, and for advice. One of the most important stations of this kind is at Kiel, in North Germany. This station receives a grant from the German Government of £375 per annum. It deals with a large quantity of milk daily, some of which is purchased (that from twenty cows), and the remainder (from ten cows), the property of the station. The officials are endeavouring in a most laudable manner to encourage the manufacture of cheese, which in consequence of the establishment of factories had almost gone out of existence. Instruction is given to pupils of various grades. Those who are advanced are allowed to do work in the laboratory under the chemist, and are occasionally sent to country dairies. There is a course for the instruction of farmers, who can attend for fourteen days, or a month if possible. The experiments which have been conducted were very numerous in the past year. They dealt with the manufacture of cheese and butter, the value of cattle-foods, and the changes which milk undergoes in freezing. The officials also conducted 350 experiments upon milk produced under different systems of feeding, together with nearly a thousand experiments in connection with the composition of milk. In addition, numbers of analyses and experiments were made with samples of milk, butter, rennet, whey, milk-sugar, and condensed milk, which were sent to the station. The experiments in connection with the cattle, however, were the most important of all. Records were kept by the officials through out the year in connection with the dairy, with the temperature and specific gravity of milk; while the accounts which were kept afford comparisons between some of the leading systems of cream-raising and butter-making, as well as of the manufacture of various kinds of cheese.

The experiment-station at Lodi, in Italy, maintained by the Italian Government, works upon a somewhat similar basis. There is a director and two assistants, all of whom are scientific men, with a practical cheesemaker. Here instruction is given to adults in the science and practice of dairying, and experiments are made upon milk, butter, and cheese somewhat similar to those which are made at the Kiel station.

There are several experiment-stations in America, but there are two or three which devote a considerable amount of attention to dairying subjects. One of these is the Agricultural Experiment Station in connection with the University of "Wisconsin. The director is Professor Henry, and the chief chemist Dr. Babcock both men who have done splendid work in the dairy interest. In a his last report Professor Henry says that he has now five thousand applications for the annual edition of five thousand copies of the "Proceedings" of the year, and hopes that ten thousand will be page 75 granted in future; and yet there are thirteen thousand copies of the report bound together with the reports of other societies. In the last report, for example, there are papers of the greatest value detailing experiments which were made upon ensilage versus maize-fodder for the production of milk and butter; upon a number of churning-tests—the results of which throw considerable light upon the profits of butter-making; upon the amount of fat in creamery-butter; on a new method of determining fat in milk; on the effect on their milk and butter of dishorning milch-cows; together with notes on ensilage, and some experiments in feeding pigs upon skim-milk and other foods. Such experimental work is of the highest value to the dairy-farmer, and no report ever more clearly showed the value of a dairy experiment-station. Similar work has been done at the station at Geneva, New York, under the direction of Dr. Sturtevant and his successor. Such a station for New Zealand would Squire the assistance of a chemist experienced in connection with dairy-science, an assistant chemist, also a scientific man and an able practical dairyman. It would be necessary to fit up a laboratory, adapting it to the work of dairy-investigation, and to equip a Email dairy where experiments could be made in cheese-making, in team-raising, and in butter-making. It would also be necessary to provide some means by which the officials could have access to dairy-cattle, which, if possible, should during important experiments be fed under their direction.