RURAL LIFE IN LITCHFIELD COUNTY 



timber carved into the proper shape and cheese casks 

 made. These later came into quite general use, but 

 were not as satisfactory as the round boxes afterwards 

 made for the carrying of twin cheeses, and now very 

 common. This demand for a suitable carrying package 

 for the cheese gave rise to a new industry, and small 

 shops were built for the express purpose of making 

 cheese boxes. We find that in 1839 Winchester reports 

 the manufacture of 4000 cheese boxes valued at $600. 

 Norfolk the same year reports the value of cheese 

 boxes made as $9500, or over 60,000 boxes if they 

 were rated the same as those made in Winchester. 



Annatto was first used for coloring cheese in Goshen. 

 It was used in the manufacture of cheese in the home of 

 this same Alexander Norton who established the south- 

 ern cheese trade. At first it was used by rubbing it 

 through a fine cloth into the milk, the present method 

 of dissolving it not being known. The more highly 

 colored cheese resulting from the use of annatto was 

 much sought after, always bringing several cents more 

 per pound than the uncolored cheese. The cheese in- 

 dustry grew from 1807, and for many years amounted 

 to 270,000 pounds a year, thus bringing to the farmers 

 a considerable income. 



In 1808 a pineapple cheese from Holland being 

 brought to Goshen from New York by a member of the 

 Norton family, Lewis N. Norton began to make experi- 



