The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-08-07
DAIRYING IN WISCONSIN.
Swiss and German Cheese Makers Of
 the "Wsconsin Alps"

tile dHu picturesque SeCtlOns oI w lScoii-
 sin, aboundlng in rich pasture lands
 and wheat and corn fields, and often | termed by visitors "The Wisconsin 1 Alps" Why this term should be ap- ! piled to the country is not always appa-
 rent at first, for the scenery, while ru- ral and attractive, Is anything but an
 imitation of the Alps. There are moun- | tains and rolling hillside farms, and un- | expected views of chasms and gorges; | but they are not usually magnificent or
 overlapping.
 But closer study of the place will
 reveal even to the most stupid the rea-
 son for the poetic name of the wis
 consin Alps" It is the population, and not the landscape so much which sug- l gests the Alps, and, also, the occupa-
 tion of the people. Here is genuine
 Swiss population, or Swiss American
 as they call themselves now, squatted down in a beautiful part of the coun- try. engaged in the very pursuit that
 has made the farmers of the Alps so famous. They have brought their cus-
 toms with them, and to an extent the whole country is a miniature Alpine scene. These Swiss Americans, with a
 few Germans scattered among them,
 make most of the Swiss and Limburger
 cheese that is manufactured in this
 country, and they do it all after the
 same primitive manner that one gees in
 the Swss-Alpine mountains. Every
 farmer-and nearly every inhabitant of
 the county is farmer-makes cheese,
 and it is always Swiss, Lii11burger,
 Cheddar or Brick. There are some who
 own such small farms that 1t Is more
 profitable to sell the milk direct to the
 cheese factories, which are owned by
 some of the wealthier Swiss or German
 farmers; but even these will have an
 milk goes, and some day they aspire to
 full ownership In similar plant. The
 factories are not by any means impos-
 ing affairs: they are more often an old
 shamble building, with drying sheds
 and stone cellars attached, and few cheap, necessary utensils that an
 American would call very primitive.
 These utensils, in some instances, have
 been brought from the Alps by the first
 settlers, and they look foreign enough
 to satisfy the most casual observer that
 they were never fashioned in Yankee land
 Everybody in the colony speaks Swiss or German. and very few understand good English Even those who have resided in the country for six and seven years have only a poor smattering of English, and can make themselves un- derstood only with the help of numer- ous signs and shakings of the head. Moreover. they try to keep their chill dren out of the public schools, where they are forced to learn English, all though this is the fault of the priests and not that of the farmers. The priests do their best to keep the mother tongue popular among the Swiss and German farmers, and in so doing they retain the hold upon them that might be broken if they once learned the Eng fish language, and began to affiliate with the surrounding American popula- tion.
 There are no kinder or more hospita- ble people in the world than the resi- dents of the Wisconsin Alps. They welcome every visitor, and, according to their ideas of hospitality, give to him the best of their possessions. No deserving person would be turned from their freshold. and they are equally ready to explain to any one their meth- ods of cheese-making. They do not consider their present home the equal of their former Alpine habitation. They rather resent the comparison between the two contained In the name applied to Green county But with the possible exception of the flowers and extended views of lofty mountain ranges, their adopted home Is far superior to their old; it Is richer in everything that makes farming profitable and prosper ous The very brooks and springs that bubble up on many of the farms pro- vide the cattle with clear water that many another farmer would envy, while it mostens and enriches the pas- ture land so that all grasses and grains flourish luxuriently. It would be hard 1 to find richer country on the globe
 The Swiss farmers, however do not | they are satisfied with their | home and surroundings, and they make | a good living, according to their stand | ards of existence and lay up money be- sides. Tn time they will be converted | into firstclass American citizens. The material Is there; but at present they are priest ridden, and too foreign in their ideas to be quickly assimilated by the American population. The first l step toward making them as desirable | American citizens as they are now far mers s to compel their children to at- tend the public schools, where they will | grow up to learn the English language. influences and Father riroa will 1p tbp rest
 The Swiss farmers look to their milk 'or their income. and their homes are nearly all prosperous looking. There Ire a few creameries situated in the but they are not very success sul as the farmers are more disposed o sell their milk and cream to the cheese factories or to make the cheest The cheese factories have o close in the dead of winter, and then he creameries prosper little, for they ,an pay their own price for the milk md cream. and the farmers prefer even his to sending their products to some listant city market. Most of the cheese factories are Swiss and Limberger; but here are two or three small Cheddar Ind Brick factories in the county. The owners and workers in these cheese fac ories are all Swiss or German farmers, while those who operate the creameries re more distinctly American. A pecu- far difference in the temperaments of he two nationalities was never more
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