The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-01-08
cHEEsE MAKING IN TIE SOUTH.


 The Southern Field has frequently made allusion to the small but successful cheese factories which in recent years have sprung into existence in South Carolina and other southern states, each afford ing a good example of what may be ae- compHshed in this industry if practical and experienced workers would more gen erally embark in the business.
 A writer in the Year Book of the de- partment of agriculture, in the course of an investigation designed to discover the most attractive openings for agricultural and kindred operations has been led to make the following observations touch ing cheese making In the south;
 What to the writer seems one of the most important opportunities for the ex- tension of an agricultural industry ex- isting in this country today is found in the possibilities for the production of cheese in the southern states. The investi- gations of several of the experiment sta ton workers, particularly those of Bab- cock and Russell at the Wisconsin sta tion, have brought about a revolution in the cheese industry, or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say, have resulted in discoveries that are gradually revolution izing this industry. According to present knowledge of the manufacture of cheese. ice and even cold water are not actual necessities in a cheese factory. When the milk is delivered at the factory it is inl- mediately heated the rennet is added and the temperature is further raised to cook the eurd. When the whey is re moved the curd is kept warm and Is not allowed to cool until it is ready to go to press, and even when the temperature is usually not less than 75 degrees F. After remaining In press overnight it may be removed and shipped immediately to the cities and placed in cold storage
 From this it will be seen that climatic conditions prevailing in the south are in no way unfavorable to the production of cheese. It may be further stated that the ordinary feeding stuffs of the south particularly green sorghum and cotton seed meal, exert most favorable n- fluence on the flavor of milk, and pre- sumably upon that of cheese, though this has not been demonstrated. Since feed ing stuffs can, in general be produced more cheaply in the south than else where it would seem that there is room for the development of the cheese indus try in that section.
 Such an industry should of course be developed very gradually. because every one connected with it, from the farmer who grows the crops that produce the milk to the operator of the cold storage plant, who might very properly attend to the marketing of the product, will have much to learn. The situation is also somewhat complicated by the fact that the American people are not very fond of cheese. The history of agricultural industries in Europe, however, leads us to infer that the use of cheese in this country will increase in future much more rapidly than the population. The high price of meats in recent years should have an important influence on the consumption of cheese. Unfortunate ly a great deal of the cheese made in this country has been of low quality, and has been put upon the market in an unripe condition; and Americans generally have a wrong idea concerning the place of cheese in the dietary. If our people could be taught to consume as much cheese as is consumed by corresponding populations in Europe it would, with our present population require 170OO,0O0 good dairy cows giving milk nine months in the year to supply the demand for cheese alone. This is equal to the total number of dairy cows in the country at the present time. The improved methods recently introduced in the manufacture of cheese should have an important in fiuence on the increase in the consump- ton of cheese in this country.
 Of course, there will be many failures in attempting to establish cheese fac tories in localities in which dairying is new industry. Unprincipled men will sell factory outfits at enormous profits to communities not ready to embark in the business. The labor of the south will have to be trained in dairy work; the stock of cows must be increased; but it should be stated that the quality of dairy cows In the south is already quite satis- factory, compared with other sections of the country. After the home markets have been supplied, an outlet must be found for the surplus But when all this has been done, as the writer believes it may be the industry will do much toward increasing the prosperity of the southern farmer.