410 



NEW ENGLAM) FARMER. 



Sept. 



in which I settled, was mostly in a statn of 

 nature, and its inhabitants mostly adventurers 

 from other States, who finding land very 

 cheap, laid out all their money in lands, and 

 in many i' stances went in debt largely for 

 real estate. The consequences were that no- 

 body had any money to operate upon — 

 nothing with which to build fences or erect 

 suitable necessary buildings. In many places 

 they attempted to farm without any fencing, 

 while in ctliers they had posts driven round 

 and one plank put on. With stock roaming 

 over the prairie, you may imagine what de- 

 lighiful work we had. We we e all on a 

 level. The man of means had brought him- 

 self down to the level of us poor, by invest- 

 ing his all in lands, and he, like us, bad en- 

 tailed upon himself "vexation of .'-pirit;" and 

 he, like us, was bound hand and foot, unable 

 to turn anything to advantage; and he, like 

 us, at the end of the }ear, found his troubles 

 and his debts increased rather than dimin- 

 ished. After an absence of ten years I visited 

 that neighborhood the present spring, and 

 found some of my old neighbors, after passing 

 through all the years of "high price" for 

 farm produce, still involved in debt on ac- 

 count of injudicious investments in land, as 

 above stated. There is one thing you may 

 as well set down in your day book, and that 

 is : No one can succeed in farming on a 

 prairie without capital ! 



You may ask, "Where shall the poor go?" 

 I answer : to a timbered county, where, upon 

 your own land, grows the timber to make 

 your own fencing and your own buildmgs ; 

 where you may, it }Ou are not proud, even 

 erect your own dwelling without any outlay 

 except for the nails which tack it together. 



Cheese as Food. — We remarked not long 

 since upon the superior nutritive qualities of 

 this food, as proved by the experitnce of la- 

 borers in certain countries, where it forms the 

 strongest staff of life. We have since ob- 

 served certain researches of a French chemist, 

 Charles Mene of Lille, from which we learn 

 that certain cheeses specified as Dutch, Gruy- 

 ere and Roquefort contain from 26 to 40 per 

 cent, of nitrogenized matters, which are con- 

 sidered the most highly nutritive constituents 

 of food. Consequently these cheeses are 

 from 25 to 100 per cent, more nutritive than 

 bread or meat, which is set down at 22 per 

 cent, of nitrogen. In the combustible or fatty 

 elements for heating the body by respiration, 

 cheese yields only to butter and other fats. 

 Again in point of mineral nutrition, cheese is 

 found pre-eminent, containing seven to eight 

 per cent, of ashes, whereas meat and bread 

 contain only one per cent. The very rich- 

 ness of this article, however, prejudices its 

 utility in delicate stomachs, where it is often 

 found indigestible. The strongest food suits 

 only the strongest digestion. The attention 



now given to an improved and increased man- 

 ufacture of cheese is justified, and will natu- 

 rally be stimulated by these facts. — Scientific 

 Amtrican. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



COLORING CHEESE AVITH ANNOTTO. 



I commenced twenty years ago to make cheese, 

 and have made more or less every year since. We 

 Lave found a ready sale at the highest market 

 price and have never rsed any coloring; hut as I 

 rather like to be in fashion, I think I will try a 

 little this year if it can be obtained readily. 



Please inform me through the columns of yonr 

 paper what is used to give cheese the la^-hionalile 

 color, when applied, whether in the milk or curd, 

 and how much to use, and oblige a Maine farmer's 

 wife. H. A. 



Oxford Co., Me., 1869. 



Remarks. — The foregoing inquiry was sub- 

 mitted to Mr. D. AY. Hey wood, of Barre, Mass... 

 the writer of the article in the Farmer of last 

 week on the cheese dailies of that town, who has 

 kindly and promptly furnished the following com- 

 munication, which, as will be seen, is not only an 

 answer to the inquiry of Mrs. H. A., but a brief 

 description of the whole process of cheese making. 

 Mr. H. says the information was obtained from an 

 intelligent cheesemaker, who has had charge of 

 one of the Barre factories from its very start, and 

 is therefore reliable. 



Mr. Heywood's Reply. — When the morning's and 

 evening's milk are united, strain the evening's 

 milk and cool it with ice, or with cold well water, 

 which may be done by placing the pails in tubs 

 partially filled with cold water. In the morning 

 take off the cream, mix with it twice the quantity 

 of new milk. Add warm water enough to raise it 

 to the temperature of 98°. Rub annotto through 

 a silk cloth sufficient to make the curd of rich 

 cream color. Put sufficient rennet into it to curd 

 in twenty minutes. The curd thus formed is vig- 

 orously stirred after it has been raised to the tem- 

 perature of 85°. To attain this temperature, use 

 a vessel of warm water, or add warm water to it, 

 as by putting it over the fire the least burning will 

 spoil the cheese. While the curd is setting, cover 

 with a cloth to prevent the surface from cooling. 

 One-fourth pound salt to twenty pounds cheese is 

 cousidered the right seasoning. Express all the 

 whey. 



At cheese factories the annotto is first dissolved 

 in water, and then soaked in a weak solution of 

 lye. In consequence of the adulterations in aiinoto 

 there will be found a great difference in this arti- 

 cle, so that no rule can be given in regard to a 

 definite quantity, and the eye alone must be the 

 guide. The superiority of factory cheese over that 

 manufactured at home, lies in the fact that every 

 process throughout is done well, or, in the vernac- 

 ular of cheese-making, the curd is "well cooked." 

 There is now some degree of competition between 

 rival factories to obtain the largest number of 



