DAIRIES. 56? 



would weigh full twenty pounds a quarter when dressed : their 

 wool is of a fine quality, and their fleeces extremely large and 

 heavy. An intelligent American farmer, who was with me at one 

 time when I saw them, and on whose opinion, from his having 

 been a great wool-grower, I should place much reliance, perfectly 

 coincided with me in my impressions of the merits of these 

 extraordinarily beautiful sheep. They are not so large or fat for 

 mutton sheep as the Leicester or South Down of England., in 

 which country mutton, being a favorite food, is much more an 

 object of demand than in the United States ; but they are suffi 

 ciently large for mutton, and the superior fineness of their wool 

 gives them a peculiar value. There exists with some persons 

 a prejudice against Merino mutton, but it is entirely without 

 reason. 



CXLII. DAIRIES. 



Holland and portions of Flanders are largely devoted to the 

 grazing of cattle, and to the making of butter and cheese. The 

 Dutch butter is much celebrated ; it is strongly salted and neatly 

 packed, and may be shipped to advantage. Cheese is largely 

 manufactured in Holland. The Dutch cheeses are well known. 

 They are professedly made of whole milk; but I must be per 

 mitted to distrust this, certainly in respect to those which I have 

 tasted. They are made in the form of cannon-balls, weighing 

 about seven pounds each. They are an article of extensive 

 commerce, and are sent to market as early as they can be got 

 ready. They are exported largely both to France and England. 

 The taste of them is good, but in richness they are very inferior 

 to the best English cheeses. 



The Dutch dairy-rooms are models of neatness. The French 

 denominate this quality by an expressive word propriety ; and, 

 in the case of the Dutch farmers, it seems impossible it should be 

 exceeded. Their vessels, pans, tubs, presses, shelves, dippers, 

 every thing, in short, connected with the dairy, is marked by a 

 cleanness which seems perfect, and they are bright with excessive 

 brightness. The town of Broeck has been long celebrated for 



