The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-06-08
English and American Cheese.

WHETHER or not it is a matter which
causes the general English public any
miseiving, it will at all events be not
displeasing to Americans and Cana
dams to know that each year their
cheese is gaining ground in our mar
kets, as opposed to our own cheese. 1t
is a fact of Importance that transatlan-
tic cheese is no longer excluded from
any of the English markets by the pc
culiar tastes and prejudices of any sec
ton of our people. Ten years ago this
was not the case. For, you must re-
member, English people are but slow
ly educated out of any old habit of
thought, custom, or practice; that they
have moral hatred of innovations, at
first, and that "reformer' has, in
this country, a very uphill fight of it,
When first the American cheese began
to come in considerable quantity to this
country, it was only in here and there
a district that the people would buy it
at all, and these were districts which
had been accustomed to our Cheddars,
Cheshires, and Dunlops-cheese which
somewhat resemble American, at all
events, in shape. Where our Derbys
and LeicesterS, and all our thin cheese,
in fact, had been mostly consumed,
American cheese could gain no foot
hold for considerable time. They were
too unlike the American for the latter
to stand any chance against them until
the old prejudice against it had died
away. 1t was no matter that the Ameri-
can was quite as good as our own thin
cheese in all respects, and cheaper, still
they would not have it. Time only
could remove the obstacle, but that time
would quickly do that was an evident
fact to all who looked at the matter
from an impartial standpoint. This is
now done. Your cheese is found in
every city, town, and village in En-
gland, and is found in many of them to
the exclusion of our own makes. Thus
the tables are turned.
As a matter of course, the great i'm
provement which has been effected in
your cheese within the past twelve or
fourteen years is mainly accountable for
this. But English cheese-that is, the
bulk of it's deteriorating where yours
is improving. No doubt there are still,
and always will be, few diaries of
CuccSc Ill various ulSlIlCJ III uHlS cOun-
try, which for purity and singular ex-
cellence of flavor, for peculiar and high
ly appreciated texture, and for fineness
of quality as well as general excellence,
cannot, at all events, be surpassed,
even if they can be equaled, in any
other part of the world. But these are
not numerous and are yearly diminish
ing in number. Some of us are trying
to infuse new life into the old dry
bones of English dairying, and we find
the task difficult one. The esprit de
corps seems to have departed from our
cheese-makers; they seem to have lost
heart, and are no longer taking the
pride they used to do in cheese-making.
This being the case, it is well for En-
glish dairy farmers that the consump-
ton of milk in our towns and cities has
increased enormously in recent years,
as this provides them with a new
opening for their milk-an opening
which is already being used to very
large extent. This feature also BODIES
well for your cheese, for the more milk
is consumed in this country the less
cheese we shall make, and the more of
your cheese we shall require.-J p
Sheldon Royal Ag iculturaL College,
CirenceSter, EaglaEd, TO Pacific Rural
Press.