456 The International Dairy Exhibition at Hamburg, 1877. 
gratified the epicurean eye, but except as a mere article of luxury 
would make no appeal to the British palate. 
"As to some other sorts, which it would be invidious to 
describe or distinguish by naming the districts from which they 
came, I do not exaggerate when I say that not only would such 
descriptions not enter any English mouth, but they would not 
even find house room in this country. 
" With the hypercritical taste superinduced by the meritorious 
qualities of much of our English and American cheese, and the 
almost universal demand in our large towns for mild flavour 
combined with rich quality, I have come to the conclusion that 
but little cheese will for the present be made on the Continent 
of Europe which can in any way come into competition with 
that of our own dairy districts. 
" Cheese eating abroad is essentially a different thing from 
the custom in England. In some foreign parts a morsel to 
sting the tongue is all that is generally desired. Here, it must 
be remembered, it is an article of food, and that of the most 
nutritious character. For the labourer or hungry huntsman it 
is a dish which can be brought out at a moment's notice. In 
mild weather, too, it serves the poorer classes for a meal, while 
a fire is rendered unnecessary for its preparation. 
" The traditions and uses of our fine English cheese retain all 
their force to encourage the manufacture of similar qualities in 
whatever quarter of the world they can be produced. In pro- 
portion as high prices remove this article from the tables of the 
people, a void is felt in domestic life which fully justifies the 
lament and philosophy of our great dramatist, 
' Why, my cheese, my digestion, why hast thou not served thyself in to 
my table so many meals?' 
" Yours most truly, 
"John Eastty. 
"London, 10th March, 1877." 
In addition to these remarks it should be stated that all the 
countries of northern Europe strive to produce a quality of 
cheese that will find a ready sale in English markets. The 
round Dutch, or Edam, cheese has for many years been a 
favourite cheese in some parts of England, and especially in the 
Eastern counties, where it is said to command a higher price 
than its intrinsic merit would alone warrant. The exhibition of 
Dutch cheese at Hamburg gave a most instructive clue to the 
success which has attended the introduction of that article into 
England. The ten dozen or so of these cheeses exhibited every 
variety of shape, colour, and richness, and the object of each 
variation from the familiar Edam was to bring the cheese into 
