THE CHEDDAR CHEESE. 189 



and is acknowledged by the best judges in Great Britain to sur- 

 pass, in every respect, these styles as they are commonly made. 

 The Cheddar, however, is a very high character of English 

 cheese, and commands a very high price. Its good qualities 

 have not been overrated. Tlieir best samples have rarely 

 been equalled, and never surpassed, in American dairies. Tlie 

 quantity made is comparatively small. It takes its name from 

 a small village at the foot of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset 

 County, its manufacture there having been commenced more 

 than a hundred years ago. 



Various improvements have been made in the process, until 

 it has been reduced to a system which is at once simple and 

 philosophical. It may. be said to be a chemical process, re- 

 quiring skill and judgment in the management of acids until 

 the curd has passed through its different stages and is ready 

 for the press. Its leading principles are similar to those now 

 practised by our best cheese-makers, and it is due to them that 

 the American cheese has been able to obtain such a firm foot- 

 hold in the English market. The early expulsion of the whey 

 in the English process, together with the exposure of the curd 

 a longer time to the atmosphere, the pressing, grinding and 

 salting, are doubtless improvements on our practice. I need 

 not go into detail upon these points. They have been fully 

 explained in my recent addresses before the American Dairy- 

 men's Association ; but I allude to them here that proper credit 

 may be given to English dairymen. I must say this also in 

 their favor : nothing while abroad struck me with greater force 

 and admiration than the perfect neatness and cleanliness of the 

 dairy. The milk-rooms are located beyond the reach of bad 

 odors likely to taint the milk. They have stone floors, the 

 joints nicely cemented together, so that no slops or putrid 

 matter can find an entrance. The floors, the utensils, and 

 everything connected with the establishment, are bright, clean 

 and sweet as the table and crockery of the most fastidious house- 

 wife. Many of the farmers will not allow the milkers to come 

 into the milk-rooms, but have conductors by which the milk is 

 conveyed to the tub from the outside. 



It is this perfect cleanliness of the dairy, together with the 

 favorable condition of the climate and a more uniform tempera- 

 ture of curing-rooms, that enables them to secure that mild, 



