316 



Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge. 



Vol. XII. 



milk in nearly the same manner as that em- 

 ployed for trying the strength of spirits. The 

 difference in the quality of milk between par- 

 ticular cows may thus be determined, but it 

 does not show whether the caseous or buty- 

 raceous matter predominates." 



"The making of butter appears to have 

 been known from the earliest history of the 

 island, for when invaded by Julius Cffisar it 

 was a common food of the Islanders; but the 

 art of making cheese they learned from their 

 conquerors. It seems extraordinary, tiiat a 

 people in possession of large herds of kine, 

 could be ignorant of the art of making some 

 sort of cheese from the sour curd with which 

 they must have been acquainted; it is indeed 

 described in many ancient authors; yet no 

 mention is there made of the rennet with 

 which it is now formed, nor is it known 

 when the use of that article was first disco- 

 vered." 



" The mode of making cheese, though in 

 the main points apparently the same, yet is 

 subject to more variety of minor details in 

 the practice, than that of anything formed 

 of one material ; and thus many different 

 qualities are brought to market, each bear- 

 ing some distinct character of its own. That 

 nraany of those kinds, which are by connoi- 

 seurs thought indifferent, might, by other 

 management be more nearly assimilated to 

 the superior sorts, there can be little doubt; 

 these peculiarities have, in many districts, 

 attached a certain degree of value to their 

 flavor, while in others it would seem to be 

 imparted by the natural grasses on the soil. 

 This applies more especially to Cheshire 

 than to any other county; for although imi- 

 tations of different districts have been, in 

 some cases, successfully made in others, yet 

 in no trial has cheese of true Cheshire flavor 

 been produced when made from cows fed on 

 other soils. Whether justly or not, it has 

 been attributed to the abundance of saline 

 particles in the earth, as evinced by the nu- 

 merous salt springs which abound through- 

 out a large portion of that county, and is so 

 old a remark, that Fuller, in his ' Worthies,' 

 when speaking of the county, says: 'It doth 

 afforde the best cheese for quantitie and qual- 

 itie, and yet the cows are not, as in other 

 countries, housed ih the winter. Some es 

 saied in vain to make the like in other places, 

 thoughe from thence they fetched their kine, 

 and dairie maids; it seems they should iiave 

 fetched their ground too, wherein is surelie 

 some occult excellence in this kind, or else 

 so good cheese will not be made.' There 

 must indeed be some truth in the observa 

 tion, for it is well known that where brine 

 springs most abound, the cheese is ever es- 

 teemed to be of superior quality. Whatever 



may be the foundation of the fact, the quality 

 is, however, always better when the cows 

 are pastured during the summer months. 



"Although cheese may be made from the 

 curd, which has been formed by the coagu- 

 lation of the milk when it turns sour, yet 

 when thus obtained it is hard and ill flavour- 

 ed ; many have therefore been found to cur- 

 dle it with ' rennet,' which is made from 

 the gastric juice of animals, but more espe- 

 cially from that found in the maws or sto- 

 machs of sucking calves, that have been fed 

 entirely on milk." 



Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge. 



It is probably known to most of our read- 

 ers who take an interest in such matters, 

 that the Canada people have under contract 

 and now in the course of construction, a rail- 

 way, which is intended for high speed and 

 heavy freight, from Windsor on the East 

 shore of Detroit river, about a mile below 

 the Falls. The distance is 228 miles. 



From the eastern shore of Niagara, oppo- 

 site the terminus of the Canada railway, a 

 railway through Lockport along the Erie 

 Canal to Rochester, is in the course of Con- 

 struction, Both of these roads, it is said, 

 will soon be finished. They are, however, 

 separated by the mighty Niagara, which 

 runs between them in a gorge more than 

 two hundred feet deep, with nearly perpen- 

 dicular banks, and its waters are entirely 

 impassable, owing to rapids tumbling over a 

 rocky bottom on a great descent through 

 which no water-crafl ever attempted to cross. 



To remedy this difficulty, some enterpris- 

 ing gentlemen of Western New York and 

 Canada, have set themselves about spanning 

 the river from rail-road to rail-road with a 

 bridge, to be suspended on wire cables, of 

 sufficient strength to cross rail-road trains, 

 as well as carriages and horses, and the work 

 is already under way, under the superintend- 

 ence of Charles Ellet, Jr., engineer. To ef- 

 fect this, they are erecting two towers on 

 each side of the river, built of substantial 

 masonry, about sixty feet high above the 

 rocky banks. Over the tops of these towers 

 sixteen wire cables, four inches in diameter 

 each, are to be stretched and anchored into 

 the rock and fastened in the rear of the tow- 

 ers. These cables will weigh twenty-seven 

 tons each, and will possess a strength equal 

 to the support of six thousand five hundred 

 tons weight. 



From these cables thus extending across 

 the river, the floor of the bridge is to be sus- 

 pended on a level with the brow of the banks; 

 and cars, carriages and passengers will enter 

 upon the floor of the bridge between the tow- 



