THE ...t\RT OF CII EESE -MA I{ lNG, AS PRACTISED IN ENGLAND, AND ENGLISH v. SCOTCH PRICES: WITH A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE PRESIDENT AND OFFICE-BEARERS OF THE LESMAHAGOW FARMERS' SOCIETY, AS A HELP TO PROGRESS; BY THE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY. "Be Bure you are right, then go a-head."-American. "They are far ahin that may na follow."-Scotch. LANARK: PRINTED BY MRS. BUDGE. MDCCCLIX. RESOLUTIONS. At Lesmahagow, and within the Sun Inn, the 14th day of January, 1859, being a meeting of the office"bearers of the Lesmahagow Farmers' Society. Present, Gavin Hamilton, Esq. of Auldton; Andrew Smith, Esq., Factor to William Edward Hope Vere, Esq. of Blackwood; William Sandi" lands, of Cumberhead; .James Weir, of Muirsland; John Gibson, "Bower" at Milltown; George Tudhope. of Birkwoodmain~; William Pettigrew, smith at Draff;tn ; and J. B. Greenshields, Esq., the Vice­ President. The Vice"President was called to the chair. The Vice-President presented to the Society a mass of information he had collected, on the subject of the superior modes of dairy economy practised in England, and read It letter which he had written to the President, Committee of Management, and Members of the Society, and which he was willing should be printed, so as to diffuse information as extensively as possible. Resclved, 1st, That the best thanks of this Society are due to R. Porteous, Esq., and the other gentlemen who have so kindly supplied infor­ mation ; and also to the office-bearers and members of the Ayrshire Association, for the pamphlet which they printed in 1854, on the subject of English cheese-making, and management of pigs, &c. 2nd, That the thanks of this Society are due to John Blackwood Green­ shjelds, Esq., advocate, their Vice-President, for the letter he has written, and infonuation he has collected. 3rd, That they authorise Mrs Budge, of Lanark, to print, in the form of It pamphlet, the letter and accompanying information; that 300 copies be ordered for the Society, in tenus of agreement; and copies of the pamphlet sent to all the parties who have assisted this Society, with the Society's best compliments and thanks. PREFACE. IT is usual to write a preface, but the author of this pamphlet has really very little to express on that subject. He is prepared to meet with op­ position in some quarters, as many of the ideas are new in this district of the country; but having heard deep draining abused by those who were spending hundreds of pounds on shallow drains, and having lived to see many of these drains opened and replaced by deep ones, he is confident, that if he lives a very few years, he will see as great a revolution in cneese-rTUlking as in draining. He is encouraged in this opinion by the confidence reposed in him by the President and office-bearers of the LesD?-ahagow Farmers' Association, and hy the opinion of a valued friend, residing near the base of Tinto, who wrote to him that the fact. were 80 6trong they must work a change. He cannot be too grateful to kind friends who have aided him in his efforts to advance a good work and explode an antiquated system, and he begs to tender them his warmest acknowledgements and thanks for their services. To JOHN GREGORY M'KIRDY, ESQ., OF BIRKWOOD, PRESIDEliT, AND THE COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT AND MEMBERS OF THE LESMAHAGOW FARMERS' SOCIETY, GENTLEMEN, In the year 1854 the attention of the Ayrshire Agricultural Association was attracted to the superior price which English Cheese realized in the market, compared with Scotch, and they sent a deputation to the cheese-making counties of England, to procure information regarding the different modes of making it. Their Report was printed, and twenty copies were at the time purchased by the Lesmahagow Farmers' Society, and circulated among the members. The question of Cl.. making cheese in Scotland, on the English system, has ~ heen revived in conse- 'I quence of several communications, addresscd to myself as one of your office-bearers, !}{X.t;;'...tby several influentiaJ.parties, but chiefly by Robert Porteous, Esq., Factor to the Earl of Cork, who now lives in a district in the county of Somerset, where cheese is made on the Cheddar pdnciple. From these it is ascertained that the labour attending the process ot cheese-making in Somersetshire, is about one half of what it is in Scotland; and that a thermometer and stove, so as to regulate the temperature of making and,/~ ripening; an outlay of about £26 for 6;5" ~ ~f & ~QF 1 l J!88 if e I i~ t'1- ~ leod, 'n 1 j' ag hI p' 8 sf iBlf31eftl8sts, when of the very finest quality, and suitable ;-12~ I';is t' .:f for a dairy for 40 COW"and instruction which any dairyman can procure in about ten _ Y._ a ,!ays or a fortnight, are all that are needful to enable the Scotch farmers to start on ~L the English system. trfJ During the year 1858, while prices in Scotland averaged from 483 to 50s per cwt., for sweet milk cheese, made on the Dunlop system, Mr Porteous writes that new cheese in Somersetshire has been selling at from 60s to 658; :.2 new thick at 70s; and prize as high as 78s per cwt.; and althongh the price" ,d,h ,0c, year by year, be as nicely balanced as the Druidical stones at Stonehenge, '.I~' ., year, be it remem­ bered, was a period of commercial panic and distress in E":;L,,,d as well as Scotland, and they are higher than Dnnlop cheese, in the best seasons, ever attains to in the northern markets. It is difficult to ascertain accnrately the qnantity 'of cheese made in this Parish, but it is thought that it may safely be inferred that the value of such cheese, taking the prices of 1858, amounted at least to ,£.20,000. 'fhis is inferred partly from the valuation of the whole Parish for 1857·58, having amounted to £42,651, and partly from the fact that it is a dairy Parish. No doubt the gross sum of £42,600 includes minerals and house property, bnt as the farmers nearly all depend upon cheese for payment of their rents and subsistence, it is not thought extravagant to assume that 400 tons, or 8000 cwt., are made ann\lally in the parish.* It will be seen from tho following Table how much might be gained by receipt of English prices, but of .lj Scypr.1\ parties assume 600 tons, or 12,000 ewts., which at .50s. per cwt. is £30 1 000, and at the price named by lhe London mcrcru.nt (page 26) would amount to no 1." than £54,000. 8 cOUl'se each farmer will apply these prices to his own individual case, so as to ascer­ tain how much he would profit by them. 400 Tons, or 8000 Cwt., Dunlop, at 5('08, .........£20,000. Do. Do. Cheddar, at 60s, ......... 24,000. Do. Do. Do. at 659,... ...... 26,000. Do. Do. Do. at 70s,...... .•. 28,000. Do. Do. Prize Do. at 78s, ......... 31,200. It may be said that a little energy would be needed at first in seeking out markets for Scotch made" Cheddar Cheese," or any cheese made in Scotland on the English system, and some expense incurred for carriage, supposing such cheese was sent south; but the cheese dealers in this part of the country might soon, it is thought, make arrangements with London cheese factors to supply the English market supposing the quantity made was worth the attention of the latter class of men. A large proportion of the cheeses manufactured in the Englisb counties are bespoke for the London market; and to iIIustrate how demand regulates supply, an immense market is found in London for everything, even salmon caught in Scotland, and fat cattl~and sheep sent up from Aberdeen. But while London undoubtedly affords the largest market in the kingdom, aud with its two-and-a-half to three millions of in­ habitants, swallows up much of the surplns that the provinces produce, carriage might probably be saved, and a market secured nearer home,-for instance in Glasgow or Edinburgh, Dublin or Manchester, Birmingham or Sheffield. But ,this interests the Scotch cheese dealers as much as the farmers. A great quantity of English-made cheese is now brought to Scotland to supply the Scotch markets, at considerable expense for carriage, and if the Scotch farmers could supply the demand by adopting the system of superior management, practised in England, the expense of carriage to market would be almost all sa7.;'d. Such cheese is frequently retailed at Is. per lb., being at the rate of 112s. per cwt. It is the opinion of some, that by adopting the best breeds and management of pigs and on an enlarged scale, a great deal of profit might be made by the Scotch farmers. The report of the Ayrshire Association recommended the large and small breeds of Berkskire pigs.* Without offering any confident opinion of my own on this subject, I may st"te that some of the English breeds have such fine coats, that it would be well to enquire ,,'hether or not they would stand our climate, or whether they ought to he fattened off before winter, or if it were proper to heat the houses they occnpy. The opinion of the late David Low, Esq., so long the eminent Professor of Agriculture in the University of Edinburgh, is reprinted in substance, t and is well worthy of attention, in connection with the subject of improved economy of management of the farm:- Before parting with the question of a market for Cheddar, or Cheshire, or Gloucester, or any other variety of English cheese that may be made in Scotland, it were easy, if within the scope of this communication, to collate statistics about • See page 23.