^1^ 



1863. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



339 



to only one or two farms where dariying was resor- 

 ted to ; yet there is some talk of erecting a cheese 

 factory, we believe, within the town of Seward, 

 where, it is said of one gentleman who has now a 

 small dairy of twelve cows, that he intends to in- 

 crease his number to thirty, and others will also 

 add to the number of their cows, if the factory 

 plan should be adopted. We sincerely hope this 

 enterprise will go on. Large cheeses sell better, 

 and if made at a factory, will also be more uniform 

 in quality, as well as in size. But our farmers have 

 much to learn in dairying While we meet here 

 and there a careful woman, who superintends, or 

 what is better, works the butter she makes herself, 

 there are by far too many who make butter only 

 to be used when fresh, or which if shipped, would 

 bring little credit either to the maker or the coun- 

 try where it is produced. Butter is oftener worked 

 too much than too little, it becomes salvy and de- 

 serves jTiore the name of greese than butter. The 

 salt used is the common barrel salt, put in the but- 

 ter in such quantities and such coarse lumps, that 

 even after it has been brought to market the salt is 

 not all dissolved, and may be found in large coarse 

 grains. 



In our remarks on butter, we do not wish to be 

 understood as referring to any made in Winnebago 

 or Seward, particularly, but to several lots we have 

 had occasion to try in a store, whose owners are 

 packing a good deal of this product of the dairy. 

 Butter is an article which should be carefully made 

 and handled. It enters largely into our general 

 diet, and improves, or spoils and makes offensive 

 very much of what we eat every day. There is 

 still too much poor butter made in the vicinity of 

 Rockford. "We want to make this shoe fit!" — 

 Rockford Register. 



<»» 



New York Apples — Mr. Editor — ^I saw a large 

 collection of apples and pears from the grounds of 

 Messrs. Elwangor & Barry, of Rochester, New 

 York. The specimens were much smaller than 

 those grown West, and many" varieties that are 

 not for snle in our nurseries. I have heard that 

 these gentlemen cultivate highly, and that their 

 fruit is ;ilvvay8 large and fair. I am much diiap- 

 pointod in these specimens. p. t. 



Tiie season of maturity at Rochester is later 

 th.Tn with us, and these specimens are not more 

 than two-thirds grown, which gives them in addi- 

 tion to their small size, a wilted, immature appear- 

 ance. In New York the demand is for other varie- 

 ties than we find productive, but Messrs. E. & B. 

 cultivate largely of Western varieties for Western 

 trade, which makes their collection of trees more 

 valuable to us than most other Eastern nurseries 

 who have a large trade at the West. As a general 

 thing our fruits are larger than those of New York, 

 but they are none the less valuable on that account, 

 but on the other hand are more solid and will keep 

 better than ours. We run too much after large 

 fruits. For several years this firm have shown 

 their fruit at our fairs much to their credit. This 

 has been more to show to their customers than 

 with a view of premiums, and has been of advan- 

 tage to allinterested. 



The Geauga Cheese Factories. 



The new system of making cheese in factories, 

 is bound to revolutionize the dairy business on 

 Western Reserve, if not in all cheese making dis- 

 tricts of this country. The main features appli- 

 cable to all these establishments, are the gather- 

 ing up of the milk twice a day from the adjoining 

 farms within a circuit of four or five miles, and 

 even extending now in some cases to ten miles, 

 receiving this fresk milk at the factory, setting the 

 whole in large tin vats, curdling and handling it 

 with nice precision as to uniform and excellent 

 quality, pressing the curds into cheeses of uniform 

 size to suit the market, and curing the whole in 

 large, well ventilated rooms. 



The great advantages of this system are an econ- 

 omy of labor, a uniformity and better quality of 

 cheese over that of small private home dairies. 

 At the factories, using the milk of five hundred to 

 a thousand cows, one full hand will do the work 

 for a hundred cows — that is eight men or able 

 bodied women, will make the cheese from the milk 

 of eight hundred cows. As an offset to this econ- 

 omy of manufacture, the gathering of milk must 

 be considered. The act of milking is the same as 

 for home manufacture : the milk goes from the 

 bucket into the tin can by the road side, and thia 

 can goes on to the wagon of the milk carrier, with 

 more of the same sort from other farms, unless the 

 owner of the can sends the milk himself, which is 

 sometimes done by those living near the factory. 

 Thus the housekeeper is entirely rid of all the la- 

 bor pertainiug to the dairy, except the milking of 

 the cows, and keeping the vessels clean. 



Desiring to be better informed of the practices 

 of these factories, we made a leisurely tour of 

 those in the county of Geauga — five in number, 

 where we were very kindly received and all suitable 

 information imparted. 



In Claridon, near the residence of Col. Spencer, 

 is the new factory put up last spring, by Messrs. 

 Hall & Parlcer. The factory receives the milk of 

 800 cows ; the evening's milk is strained into vats, 

 (containing 400 gallons, large beer measure,) 

 where it is kept over night as cool as possible by 

 letting a current of cold water from the spring 

 run about the outer spaces of the vat ; in the morn- 

 ing the top of this milk is all poured through a 

 strainer, and the whole mixed with the morning's 

 milk, and set to curdle. This practice is followed 

 in all the Geauga factories. 



Hall & Parker have been running on large cheese, 

 22 inch hoop, weighing from 130 to 140 lbs. but 

 are now running on a contract for foreign mar- 

 ket with 15 inch hoops, making a TO lb. cheese. 

 They will turn out some $2.5,000 worth this sea- 

 son. Owing to the dry weather whieh prevailed 

 during the mid summer, the cows fell off in their 

 yield of milk, and were making an average of not 

 more than a gallon, beer measure each, per day. 



Anson Bartlett, who is the pioneer in this system 

 of cheese making in Ohio, has his factory in Mun- 

 son, a few miles to the southwest of the last named. 

 Mr. Bartlett uses the milk from over 800 cows, 

 which, having better pastures than those in Clari- 

 don, are making a better yield of milk. Here are 



