682 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



time, and permit formers an,cl their worlcmen to be otherwise usefully employed. These 

 considerations moved the Italian Government to offer, in 387:i and 1H74, .several prizes, 

 of which the highest was $240 and a gold medal, to the best managed :xssociation. under 

 articles of copartnership, organized for the manufacture and sale of butter and cheese, or 

 either, to be thereafter started, composed of at least ten associates having equal rights, 

 working 340 quarts of milk per day, and having a cheese-maker in their solo employ. 



Since then cheese factories h{ive greatly increased in number and improved in manage- 

 ment. They are everywhere in Italy except Sicily, where small milk-ownera carry their 

 milk to the large, and when, after a month, they have delivered to these 250 or 3011 

 quarts, they receive that quantity back at one time. This system of reciprocal loans is 

 mutually beneficial, as a large quantity of milk worked at one time makes more cheese 

 than the same amount worked in small quantities at different times. 



I trust, sir, that my suggestion of imitating Italian cheese will commend itself, and 

 inure to the benefit of Our dairymen: for while it is a proud thing lor a people to teach, 

 the secret of national prosperity consists in having the manliness to learn. 



THOS. C. T. GRAIN, 



Cimnul. 



United States Consulate, 



MUan, May 31, 1881. 



THE MANUFACTUEE OF SWISS CHEESE.* 



REPORT BY CONSUL ADAMS. OF GENEVA. 



The manufacture of cheese is one of the most ancient industries of Switzerland, in- 

 struments for this purpose havin" been fonnd in different parts of the country among 

 the ruins of the " lake dwellinglp' whose date is anterior to all historical records. In 

 the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the production had grown large enough to be- 

 come the subject of legislation, ps appears from some curious decrees of Berne, Claris, 

 Appenzell, and other countries, prescribing the form and weight of the cheeses, and for- 

 bidding the manufacture of certain sorts or any exportation to foreign countries. At 

 the end of the last century the methods of manufacture were of the rude kind still in 

 use among the mountains and in the remote districts, each household making what it 

 needed without any special conveniences or skilled processes. The modern manufacture 

 dates from the introduction, 80 or 90 years ago, of the cultivation of artificial fodder 

 (fourrages artificiels), and the system of stabling cattle, now univoi-sal in the lower val- 

 leys and the plains. The improvement of quality created a wider demand at home and 

 a new market in other countries, and to-day the better kinds of Swiss cheese are as much 

 a product of skill and high art as the Swiss watch. 



The several varieties are classified either according to consistency of material, as dtir, 

 ferme, and mou (hard, firm, and soft), or, according to the proportion of fatty matter, as 

 gras, mi-graa, or maigre (rich, medium, or thin), or, acourding to the coagulation, 

 whether by rennet {hpriswre) or by sour milk (h Init aiiji-r). Table A gives a descrip- 

 tion of the better-known varieties according to the qualities indicated, and Table B an 

 analysis of selected specimens of some of the same varieties. With the exception of the 

 Vacherin {Mont d'Or), which originated in France, and the Urseren from Italy, auda few 

 imitations of foreign styles like the Limburg, all the kinds named here are native and. 

 peculiar to Switzerland. 



The best and the most abundant of the Swiss cheeses is the EmmenthaJ, a round cheese, 

 80 to 100 centimeters in diameter, 10 to 15 centimeters thick, and weighing from 50 to 

 100 kilos or more. Like all the rich cheeses (fromage gras), which retain nearly all the 

 elements of the milk, its nutritive value is high. It was fir.st made in the valley of the 

 Emme in the canton of Berne, whence it followed the Bernese emigration into the nei^li- 

 boring cantons, where it is now made in large quantities, and into Bavaria Russia, 

 North Germany, and North and South America. The exportation began in the last 

 century to Germany and Italy, and now it is sent everywliere, the principal markets 

 being Germany, Russia, Italy, and the United States, where, I believe, it is known as 

 sehweizer lease. In winter a good deal of Emmenthal miqrns is made, mostly for France 

 where it takes the place of butter. 



Next in importance is the Gruyere, called after the village of that name in Fribourg, 

 another round cheese 60 to 70 centimeters in diameter, to 1 2 centimeters thick, weigh- 

 ing 30 to 45 kjlos. It has come into great repute within the last ten years since the 



* Republished from Consular Report No. 15, for January, 1882. 



