286 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



For the New England Farmer. 

 BEBKSHIRE CHEESE. 



I read with much interest the remarks made by 

 Mr. Tower, of Berkshire, at one of your agricul- 

 tural meetings, as published in the weekly Farm- 

 er of March 2d. I have often heard the cheese 

 of this county and of Worcester highly spoken of, 

 and should like to know how it is made. Can 

 you inform us through the New Emjland Farmer, 

 and oblige many readers of your excellent paper 

 in northern Vermont, where the dairy business is 

 becoming a leading interest. 



Derby, Vt, March, 1861. B. F. Fletcher. 



Remarks. — The farmers of Worcester and 

 Berkshire counties very justly pride themselves 

 upon the character and fame of their cheese. In 

 the report of the Worcester Committee on Cheese, 

 for 1859, it is expressly acknowledged that this 

 reputation is public property of great value, 

 which they say ought to be cared for, and in- 

 creased by public and private effort. 



In 1854, the State Society offered the Berkshire 

 County Agricultural Society three premiums 

 of seventy-five, fifty and twenty-five dollars, for 

 the three best dairies that should exhibit their 

 productions, and answer the interrogations ac- 

 companying the proposition. 



A committee, headed by Mr. Tower, were ap- 

 pointed by the Berkshire Society to award these 

 large premiums, which were finally paid to Mr. J. 

 D. Northrop, of Lanesboro', Mrs. G. W. Lincoln, 

 of Cheshire, and Mr. Henry Dresser, of Stock- 

 bridge, all of whom made written statements, 

 which were published. 



So far as any manufacturing operation which 

 requires great skill, much practice, and nice at- 

 tention to numerous details, can be communicat- 

 ed by written description, we believe these state- 

 ments give information as to the process of 

 cheese-making in the best dairies of Berkshire 

 county. 



In reply, therefore, to friend Fletcher's request, 

 we copy the statement of Mrs. S. W. Lincoln, of 

 which Mr. Tower says, in his report on awarding 

 the premiums, "we think her recipe for making 

 cheese as good a one as we have ever met with, 

 and worthy of commendation." 



Manner of making Cheese. — "The milk at night 

 is set in tubs ; and if the weather is warm, cool- 

 ers are set into the milk, filled with cold water or 

 ice. In the morning the cream is skimmed off, 

 put into milk and warmed, and then mixed with 

 the night's and morning's milk, and warmed by 

 pouring in hot water, to a temperature of eighty- 

 six degrees. Rennet is then added, sufficient to 

 produce a thorough coagulation ; then, in about 

 forty minutes, the curd is cut into fine square 

 pieces, and remains until the green whey begins 

 to rise ; then it is broken up with the hand. This 

 operation is performed with great care, letting 



the curd pass gently between the fingers without 

 squeezing it in the hands, as that would decrease 

 the quantity of cheese. After settling, a quantity 

 of whey is put into a kettle and warmed, and put 

 into the curd, making it ninety-five degrees warm. 

 The curd is again broken, the whey heated and 

 put into the curd, so that the heat will be raised 

 to one hundred and six degrees. It then remains, 

 being stirred occasionally, until the curd becomes 

 elastic, and, as old cheese-makers say, "squeaks 

 between the teeth." ITien the whey is again 

 drawn off, the curd cooled with cold water, and 

 then salted with a tea-cup full of salt to sixteen 

 pounds of cheese. It is then pressed twenty-four 

 hours, being turned over in the time, and then re- 

 moved to a cool dairy-room, greased, colored ac- 

 cording to fancy, and turned every day until 

 cured." 



For the Netc England Farmer. 



STBAW HIVES. 



The telegraphic notices that have kept the pub- 

 lic in a state of co: fusion for the last few months, 

 are not more conflicting than are the statements 

 and opinions of professed bee-keepers touching 

 the management of bees, and the best hives to be 

 used. I know of nothing connected with rural 

 economy upon which so much self-conceit and 

 ignorance has been expended. Simple as are the 

 habits of the honey-bee, volume after volume has 

 been written upon it, while the various periodi- 

 cals and newspapers have contributed their share 

 of attention to the supposed mystei-ies of bee- 

 keeping. Intimately connected with many of 

 these books, and following closely in their wake, 

 comes the vender of patent rights and hives. In 

 my opinion, as a class, (and I have seen some- 

 thing of them,) a more unreliable set of hawkers 

 never preyed upon the public. Complain of the 

 bee-moth and cold winters as much as you please ; 

 where one swarm dies from either of the above 

 named causes, your patent bee-trays kill thou- 

 sands. I have still fresh in my memory a remark 

 made to me by a very sensible old farmer and 

 bee-keeper, who, when asked to look at a patent 

 hive, did not object to examining it, but said that 

 if he had given every man that had come to him 

 with a patent hive, ten dollars, and then kicked 

 him and his hive out of doors, ne should have 

 been better off. I certainly am not so much pre- 

 judiced that I cannot see any good in a hive, 

 merely because it is patented. On the CDntrary, 

 I think well of the Langstroth hive, consisting as 

 it does simply of a box and suspended frames. I 

 cannot see any thing about it that interferes with 

 the natural habits of the bee. It enables the in- 

 telligent apiarian at all times to know the condi- 

 tion of his stock, to regulate his swarms, and in 

 fact, reduces bee-keeping to a very simple pur- 

 suit. There are several modifications of this hive 

 patented by various individuals, but all that is 

 good about them, is taken from Mr. Langstroth, 

 and by no means an improvement on the origi- 

 nal. Among the most conspicuous of these, and 

 perhaps the worst of them all, is one by Mr. Kid- 

 der, who seems to have a very awkward way of 



