[Illustration: MANOIR-FERME OF S. HYPOLITE, NEAR LISIEUX.]
I should strongly advise any one who is interested in dairy-work to make a trip to Normandy during this month, for they could pass a delightful time studying the various methods of soft cheese-making.
This is an industry I have long wished to see carried to greater perfection in England. It is work so eminently suited for women, and could be undertaken by any one with a dairy, of even eight or ten cows, with very little expense. I have lately been making a very careful study of this work, and visiting many of the largest dairies round Lisieux, which is the centre of the Camembert and Pont Evêque cheese factories, and I have been much struck by the simplicity of the process and the slight expense that the plant would cost for the production of these and kindred cheeses.
There are great difficulties in the way of thoroughly mastering the subject, because as a rule the whole process is carried on by "rule of thumb." There are no thermometers, and they boast that they never use one. The very important subject of the heat of the milk at various stages of manufacture, the temperature of the rooms for ripening the cheeses, are carried out by guess-work and feeling, and I think that this is one cause that these cheeses vary so much in different localities. I should strongly urge that any one desirous of becoming an adept at this work should endeavour to get herself taken as a pupil at one of the smaller farms. They will not take pupils at the large manufactories, as it is not worth their while, but at some of the smaller places, I think, if a pupil was willing to pay a premium, she might get taken on. I spoke to one farmer who makes about four hundred to six hundred Camemberts daily in his small dairy, and he thought it was quite a possible plan. An intending pupil should provide herself with two thermometers, one to hang up in the dairy and one to test the heat of the milk. My own feeling inclines me to advise the taking up of the Pont Evêque cheeses more than the Camembert; they are not so difficult to ripen, and I think are more suitable to English taste, and should command a ready sale.
Now if any one feels fired by a spirit of enterprise to take up this interesting work, I could promise her that much pleasure could be derived from such a trip, and if such a one is a cyclist, it could be carried out at a very small cost. The roads in Normandy are splendid, with a surface that even after heavy rains dries quickly, and one can always find little country inns or _auberges_, where good food and cleanliness can be insured, if not luxury. And I think the most agreeable way of making a cycling tour is not to make any very hard-and-fast rule as to stopping-places, but let it depend on the weather and one's own feelings, as some days a run of forty miles is easily accomplished, and yet on another, with a hot sun and many long _côtes_ to climb, one is sufficiently tired after twenty-five miles to greet with pleasure the little brick-floored cool parlour of the wayside inn, and relish the excellent coffee, even without milk, and the rolls and lovely butter that are always provided.