No. 5. 



Cheese Making in Virginia. 



153 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Cheese Making in Virginia. 



To THE Editor, — I enclose for the Cabi- 

 net the following communication, copied for 

 me, 1 think, from the Soiitherii Planter, by 

 a friend of Petersburg, when recently on a 

 visit to Virginia. I think it will be interest- 

 ing, as showing what may be, and is done 

 inlhat State. S. 



"There is in this county what in this sec- 

 tion of Virginia may justly be denominated 

 a curiosity — a cheesery ; the novelty of which 

 induced me to accept of the very kind invi- 

 tation of its enterprising and polite proprie- 

 tor to go and examine its operations; and as 

 a history of what I saw might not be unin- 

 teresting or unprofitable to your readers, I 

 propose communicating it, hoping thereby to 

 be able to impart at least a portion of the 

 satisfaction which I enjoyed. 



" Mr. Samuel Look emigrated from New 

 York to this county in January, 1845. He 

 rents a farm containing four hundred acres, 

 one hundred of which are in wood, for which 

 he pays an annual rent of four hundred dol 

 lars, and furnishes clover seed, plaster, &c. 

 He commenced under very disadvantageous 

 circumstances, having had to make entire 

 preparations for his cheese operations, and 

 he encountered a great drawback in the 

 drought which prevailed to so great an ex- 

 tent, and the consequent diminution of the 

 grass crop; but notwithstanding these diffi- 

 culties, his success was equal to his most 

 sanguine expectations, thereby astonishing 

 his neighbours, who first regarded the pro' 

 ject as visionary, and predicted that it would 

 be a failure. The present year, of which I 

 propose giving a more minute description, 

 he has none of those difficulties to encoun- 

 ter, and is succeeding to admiration. He 

 keeps thirty cow-s, which he manages to 

 calve about the first of April. He fattens 

 all his calves, and at one month old he car 

 ries them to market, where they bring him 

 four dollars per head. At this time he com- 

 mences the manufacture of cheese, which is 

 continued until the first of November, each 

 cow upon the average producing two pounds 

 of cheese per day, making an aggregate of 

 ten thousand and eight hundred pounds, for 

 which he finds a ready and convenient mar- 

 ket, at 10 cents per pound, equal in money to 

 S1080, and from the whey he fattens twenty 

 hogs, which he keeps in pens at a conveni- 

 ent distance from his cheesery, and from 

 which he accumulates a quantity of good 

 manure. The whole of this operation is 

 conducted without interfering in the least 

 with the other business appertaining to the 



farm. The cows are milked whilst the 

 horses are feeding, and then the milk is 

 turned over to the females, who convert it 

 into cheese. In addition to this, Mr. Look 

 cultivates quite extensively, and I might 

 add, from present appearances, profitably. 

 He seeded last fall one hundred bushels of 

 wheat, which promises a rich return. He 

 has about seventy-five acres of exceedingly 

 fine looking corn. His oats, rye and grass, 

 look remarkably well — indeed, everything 

 presented a most prosperous appearance. He 

 designs as soon as he succeeds in getting 

 his land well taken in grass, to extend his 

 cheesery, believing that he can thus realize 

 more than by the cultivation of the soil, par- 

 ticularly when the additional labour and ex- 

 pense attending the latter are taken into 

 consideration ; and besides, he says, by that 

 system he can greatly increase the fertility 

 of his land ; for although Mr. L. lives upon 

 rented land, he seems never to disregard 

 his landlord's interest. Mr. Look expresses 

 himself delighted with Virginia, particularly 

 with her climate, and says all that is re- 

 quired to make her a great State, is better 

 roads, and a more enlightened system ot 

 education. I hope Mr. Look's success will 

 be the means of inducing some more of his 

 friends to follow him. I am satisfied that 

 no portion of Virginia ofiers superior induce- 

 ments to emigrants than Prince William 

 county. The exceedingly low price of her 

 land, its natural fertility, easy access to mar- 

 ket, health, society, &c., are advantages of 

 v^hich other counties cannot boast. But, 

 Mr. Editor, I have digressed from my sub- 

 ject. My object in writing this communi- 

 cation was to attract the attention of the 

 farmers to the subject of making cheese, 

 and I think Mr. Look, by his experiment, 

 has demonstrated beyond cavil the practica- 

 bility of manufacturing it in this county. 

 The question now naturally arises, would 

 it not be infinitely better for, at least, a por- 

 tion of the farmers of this county to imitate 

 the example set them by Mr. Look, and 

 give this branch of business some attention. 

 Whilst the farmers generally in this section 

 who rent land and hire labour, cannot make 

 "buckle and tongue meet," Mr. Look is re- 

 alizing, after paying all expenses, the hand- 

 some sum of a thousand or twelve hundred 

 dollars per annum ; the reason is obvious. 

 If you abstract the amount realized from his 

 cheesery, the products of his farm would 

 not more than pay expenses and support his 

 family. He says the art of making cheese 

 is very plain and simple, even more so than 

 that of making butter." 



S. B. H. 



Prince William, June 12tli, 1846. 



