Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1901-06-25
CHEESE MAKING

A
dustry upon many New England farms
generation ago, but in common will
other farm practices has been super
seded by modern methods, and there
are to-day but comparatively few womel
upon those farms who know how t.
make cheese. The old way was labO
rious one, for, with the scant means o
caring for cheese during curing, ther'
was great amount of work involved fo
the three months during which th'
cheese was undergoing this process, bu
it was profitable disposition of the
milk when the labor was not taken into
account, and added many dollars to the
farm income beyond what could have
been obtained from any other disposi
tion of the milk.
OF course at that time there were nc
creameries or milk cars to Boston
which limited the market for milk tc
butter and cheese making upon the
farm. The day has passed forever when
cheese will be made in the old-fashiOned
way, and this homemade product has
become almost unknown in the market.
In common with other farm practices
the work must be done by machinery
and steam, or other power, o. the prod
uct sent to market in an unmanufactur'
ed state. 1t is but another evidence of
the change from manual labor to ma
chinery and some sort OF power.
We have not yet learned to appreciate
the food value of milk and its products.
We produce vast quantities of milk and
manufacture vast quantities of butter,
and are still importing large quantities
of cheese. These impOrtations are COM
posed of various kinds of cheese, from
the fancy brand selling for as high price
per pound as gilt-edged butter to the
ordinary sort with which most of us are
familiar.
1t is interesting to study the methods
and practices where these cheese are
made. Few people who have not been
to Switzerland understand tina one of
the greatest resources of the country is
the Alpine pastures, where hundreds of
thousands of COWS are driven every sum-
mer after the grass is we'll started. Far
up among the mountains the herders
live, tending their herds and producing
tons of cheese.
tain more than two million acres. In
the spring these cows are driven from
the valleys, where they have been kept
during the winter, gradually approach
ing the summit as the season advances,
until at midsummer they reach the
highest feeding ground. They then re-
turn by easy stages as the frosts of au-
tumn advance reaching their winter
quarters again.
These cows are attended by the herds
man, who has movable hut, in which
he manufactures the cheese and sends it
to the base of the mountain at frequent
intervals. As soon as the herdsman
steps out of his hut in the morning and
blows his Alpine horn the little herd,
obedient to the accustomed call, come
up to the hut to be MIXED. A large
part of a particular brand of cheese
known and relished all over the world is
made by these herders during their soli-
tary life in the mountains.
A famous brand known as the Roch-
fort cheese is made entirely of ewes
milk, and is a distinctive product of
small district of Rochfort, in the south
of France. The art of making this kind
of cheese is said to have been perfected
there more than nine centuries ago, and
has been handed down through many
generations. In some years about ten
million pounds are made from the milk
or four hundred thousand ewes.
The round Dutch product known as
Edam cheese has one popularity that is
shared by few other cheeses in the
worlds markets These are made both
in factories and at the home of the
Dutch peasant farmers. They are made
in vast quantities and shipped to all
parts of the world.
Canada is the largest cheese exporting
practically all the cheese made
there being made in factories. The Can
adian government has rendered financial
hid to the industry by providing educa-
ton in dairy matters and means of ship
ment to other countries. 1t has also
aided in he erection of both cheese and
butter factories, all of which has been a
stimulus to the dairy indus
Try of that country, and especially to the
cheese making industry.
1t is probable that few more cheese
scattered over New England
would be profitable addition to the
larry facilities of this section. If they
we're operated only during the season
when milk is most plenty they would
iivert portion of the surplus product
.owards other markets and relieve an
,ver-stocked market. 1t is not probable
hat cheese making upon the farms of
New England will again be taken up,
,ut that more cheese could be made at a
profit in well-equipped factories is a
question admitting of no dOubt.-Mirror
md Farmer.