The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-07-08
ROMANCE IN CHEESE-MAKING
Little Known Facts About Some of
the Famous Cheeses.

FROM the ne" lo!k sun.
We have COW in this country for
every four of the inhabitants. This
liberal allowance makes us the largcst
producer of dairy products in the
world. in spite of the fact that we
do not seem to have the average Euro
pean's appreciation of the food value
of milk and it's products. We produce
more than any other country in the
world simply because We have Il very
much larger population than any other
important dairy country, but in some
of the older European lands two or
three times as much milk and cheese
are consumed per capita as in the
United States.
We import large quantities of the
foreign cheeses. 1t is probable that
many of our citizens who are fond of
imported CheeSeS with world famous
names are not acquainted with even
the broad, general facts concerning
their manufa Cture. Some of these facts
collected here, may show that even the
prosaic subject of dairying has inter-
esting features. 1t has also its secrets,
that are very carefully preserved. Inn
itations of number of famous cheeses
are made in various countries, but are
very imperfect as well as spurious. The
broad facts of the manufacture are
known, but there are essential details
that are not understood by outsiders
who try to reproduce them,
Few people who have not been to
Switzerland understand that one of the
greatest resources of the country is
the Alpine pastures, where hundreds
of thousands of cows are driven every
summer after the grass is well start
ed. Far up among the mountains the
herders live, tending their herds and
producing tons and tons of cheese.
There are nearly 2,lll,10l acres in these
Alpine pastures. All winter the cows
are fed on hay in the valleys, with
no change i'm their diet till the sun
warns the grassy slopes into life Then
they begin to climb the mountains. AS
first they Craze in the pastures of the
"Voralpen," for the high meadows or
the mittelalpen," in the colder and
higher attitudes, are not ready for
them till the season has considerably
advanced. Gradually they arc driven
to the higher pastures, where they
Craze all summer; they do not leave
these heights, watered by the melting
SHOWS from the glaciers, till frost COM
pels them to seek lower attitudes:
then they descend as slowly as they
had climbed the slones in the spring.
ana finally find their way into the
stables among the valleys, where the
farmers We're cutting hay for them
whilethey We're feeding on the up
lands,
While on the pastures they are tend
ed only by the herdsmen hired by the
SOW owners in some hamlet to take
care of the animals and make cheese
from the milk they yield At each OF
the stages on the slow journey up the
mountain there Is a hut in which the
Sem or herdsman lives. 1t contains
the cheese making apparatus; most of
the milk is made into cheese, though
butter is also considerabl product,
As soon as the Sem steps out of his
door in the morning he blows his AL
pine horn, usually made of birch bark,
and his little herd, ohedient to the ac-
customed call, come up TO the hut 10
be milked The Sem leads a solitary
but a very industrious life, for his
time is fully occupied in milking, keep