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■VGT. 8 
MEW-YOfl 
ENGLISH “CHEESE CRITICISMS” AN¬ 
SWERED, r 
An Englishman, and as he says “a dear 
lover of good cheese,” sojourning at Sarato¬ 
ga, writing to the Troj Times, asks some per¬ 
tinent questions about American cheese, and 
says:—I am residing in a large and preten¬ 
tious village, yet I am frequently informed 
by the purveyor of groceries, etc., that little 
cheese can be obtained in the village, and 
what there is, is scarcely lit to eat, 
I have purchased in England some of the 
finest American cheese ever eaten, for six 
and seven pence per pound ; here it is worse, 
infinitely worse than boiled goat skin at 
twenty and twenty-two cants per pound. Do 
the large manufacturers and farmers gener¬ 
ally send all their finest cheeseto the mother 
country, and keep the article they know 
would not fetch five cents per pound on the 
other side of the pond, for their own and our 
own consumption ? Such certainly appeara 
to be the case. 
We have no doubt this Englishman tells 
the facts according to his experience, and 
there are thousands of Americans—lovers of 
good cheese—who have cause to complain 
aud do complain, quite as forcibly os he, 
concerning the difficulty of obtaining a 
choice quality of cheese. 
But why is it that there is such a dearth of 
nice, fine cheese in the grocers' bauds all 
over the country ? It 13 not because Ameri¬ 
can manufacturers lack skill in making it. 
On the other hand they make some of the 
best; but, as lie surmises, the most of this 
quality is shipped abroad, the poorest belmr 
retained for home consumption. We can 
name many of the “fancy factories,” noted 
for turning out an extra article, that are 
secured regularly, year after year, for ths 
English trade. The best brands of American 
cheese are quite as well known in England 
as at home, and the English shipper gives a 
standing order to his agents in t;;is country 
for the goods. And as English dealers, for 
the most part, make the price on our cheese, 
it would be strange indeed if they did not 
choose tlie best. There is nothing wrong in 
this on the part of our English friends, but 
it is a mistaken policy on our own part in 
throwing our “poor stuff” on the home 
markets, because we should strive by all 
possible means to promote homo consump¬ 
tion, and this cannot well be accomplished 
without putting before our people a kind of 
food that is attractive, and from its own in¬ 
trinsic goodness persuades to consumption. 
We do not menu to say that there is uo 
good cheese to bo found in our home mar¬ 
kets, for such can generally be had in our 
leading cities, but our country villages are 
badly supplied with the best cheese, and 
especially is this the case hi the cheese-mak¬ 
ing sections of New York. One reason why 
this is so is, that our country markets arc 
largely supplied by farm dail ies who peddle 
out their poor goods to the grocer at reduced 
rates, and the grocer of course sells to con¬ 
sumers for the usual rates asked for the 
best. Again, the home dealers or their 
agents meet at the country cheese markets 
and purchase the poor lots of cheese offered, 
which are obtained at from one to three or 
mere cents below the going price of a fancy 
article. And when the consumer comes to 
buy it, the price asked is for the best, and so 
the margin of the grocer's profits is increased. 
We could name certain buyers, at the inte¬ 
rior markets, who are regularly employed in 
this trade, and who claim to make a belter 
profit on their purchases than those who buy 
“fancy goods” for the English market. 
Our English critic says also, that he has 
“purchased at retail stores in England some 
of the finest American cheese ever eaten, for 
six aud seven pence per pound.” This i 3 
equivalent to 14c. and IGo. of our currency. 
We are aware that American cheese is not 
unfrequently sold, at our interior markets, 
excessively cheap, and sometimes for less 
than the cost of production. Here again we 
make a mistake, because ail our best cheese 
is wanted abroad, aud ought to bring as much 
money in the English markets as English 
cheese of the same quality, but it is generally 
much below English cheese in price, because 
our dairymen are foolish enough to neglect 
home markets and are williug to sell often 
below values rather than hold it for the time 
being. Take for instance the prices of En¬ 
glish and American cheese to-day (Aug. 20,1 
in London. American extra is quoted at 60 
to 6S shillings per cwt., while English Ched¬ 
dar brings 80 to 90 shillings, a difference of 
from 14 to 22 shillings sterling for goods of 
the same quality. In other words English 
cheese brings from 5c. to Gc. in gold, more 
per pound than American. If home con¬ 
sumption was promoted and increased so 
that there would be little or no surplus above 
what was needed at home, we should have 
prices in London more on an equality. Or 
what is better, if prices in America were 
made to correspond more equitably with 
those of English cheese, our dairymen would 
be better paid. And, indeed, we see no good 
reason why this should not be 30 , or why 
cheese should be marketed iu England on a 
different rule from that of butter. The but¬ 
ter imported from the continent to England 
sells along with English and Irish butter. 
Thus, for instance, od the 20‘h of August the 
best Irish butter (ClonmelD was selling in 
London at, 188 to 141 shillings per cwt., while 
Normandy extra was quoted at 130 to 140 
shillings. 
-- 4 -» » ■ , 
NEW PROCESS P0R CURING CHEESE. 
An Ohio man writes us that he has invent¬ 
ed a cheap process fir curing cheese so as to 
make it fit for market in two to six days 
after coming from the press, without regard 
to the state of the weather, avoiding all 
damage from flies and much trouble in at¬ 
tending to the cheese. As an illustration of 
what can be done he adds as follows “ I 
have just cured a cheese in -18 hours from the 
press. It weighed when taken from the press 
3f> pounds, and the oaring reduced its weight 
to 32)£ pounds. It can be cured by this pro¬ 
cess and be still left With more weight than 
by common air drying or curing, or it can be 
cured to suit the judgment and taste of the 
operator. 
The cost of the apparatus and the expense 
ofeuriugare represented to be very small. 
The procoss is not givon, but we infer from 
what is stated that steam is applied iu some 
way by which the moisture is evaporated or 
taken out of the cheese. But if the cheese is 
fitted for the market of course its flavor 
must be changed so that it will show age. 
There are so many improvements being 
made in dairy management that we refrain 
from expressing an opinion concerning this 
new process until we know more about it 
and can see and rasta some of the cheero 
cured by the new methods. We allude to 
the matter, however, that dairymen may 
know that investigations and experiments 
are being made in curing cheese. If a cheese 
can be cured in two or even six days, so as 
to bo of fine flavor and fit for market, and if 
it will hold its flavor for any considerable 
length of time it is a desideratum, and espe¬ 
cially so if the process is inexpensive and 
easy of application. 
We hope to hear further of this invention 
and to learn whether the claims made by the 
inventor can be sustained in practice. 
FEEDING FOR MILK. 
A friend of mine who keeps a dairy of ten 
cows in this place, requests me to ask you 
through the Rural New-Yorker, the value 
°f oil-cako meal, a? compared with bran and 
mi tilings to feoil to hi* cow?, and the best 
way of leeding it. I do not know at. what 
price he can obtain either.—H. R. Grant. 
Pent water. Oceana Co., Mich. 
Remarks. —The relative merits of bran 
and oil cake will be seen by tho subjoined 
comparison of tho exact weight of each sort 
of ingredient contained in 2,240 pounds of 
bran and oil-cake severally : 
Nitrosrenous, or nmeole-form- Oil Cake, 
i »2 food (ilhumen, gluten lb®. 
and easoinei. 4 U 0 
Heat-giving and fat- 1 Starch / 897 
ty substances. I F-it.. . f 253 
Mineral and botw-lorming 
substances fphosphai.es of 
lime, &o., alkaline salts;. .. 154 
Water, Uiuk, Waste. 431 
Bran. 
lbs. 
448 
1,233 
113 
108 
284 
The quantity of ash in both is almost the 
same. Ia both too we fin 1 the same sorts of 
organic compounds, gluten, starch, fat, &e. 
According to Prof. Johnson the phosphoric 
acid in bran is equal 10 that in o;l cake. Iu 
Prof. 8. W. Johnson’ 9 work, “ How Crops 
Grow,” there is a table giving the average 
quantities of water, organic matter, ash, 
albuminoids, carbohydrates, &c., crude fiber, 
fat, &e., in various agricultural plants and 
products, according to tho analysis of Pro¬ 
fessors Wolff aud Knop. 
In this table the proximate composition of 
wheaten bran and oil-cake are given as 
follows : 
'•S'A .. . ruuv'iy VlMUOriH 
V filer. tn.ilt.T. Ash, i,..| ls. drain, Ac. fib«r Ac 
WUontbran . 13.1 St.3 5.1 M.O 60.0 17.8 3.f 
Linseed oake. 11.5 80.0 7 9 38.3 11.3 U.O 10.1 
From this it will bo seen that tho album! 
noids anl oil in the oil-cake as comjarac] 
with the same in bran are considerably 
higher than in the first table presented. 
Bran makes an excellent food for dairy 
stock and considering the less cost at which 
it may be obtained it will probably give 
better results for tho money expended. 
It must be observer!, however, that nr 
chemical analysis will show the exact nutrl 
tive value of any kind of food. Nutritive 
value is found by putting the substance into 
tho stomach of a living animal and noting 
the results. It is time we have somo knowl¬ 
edge of the nutritive value of sugar, starch, 
oil, albumen, gluten and other eoustittients 
of food ; and from the relative proportion of 
these iu a given substance vve can gliess as to 
its general nutritive effect. Still chore are 
some kinds of food that produce better re¬ 
sults than the percentage of their nutritive 
constituents would seem to show. 
-- 
VINEGAR FOR FLOATING CURDS. 
A CORRESPONDENT of the Utica Herald has 
been using vinegar for floating curds, and 
thinks a better quality of cheese can be 
nude from this treatment than from any 
other he has seen. He says :—“ No one ever 
saw a floating curd made fi om sour milk or 
milk that would sour quickly after working 
was commence:1. This thought led me to the 
experiment with “tainted” milk, as it is 
commonly called, to use clean, sharp vinegar 
to sour It. I work a vat of such milk the 
same a3 good milk, until the curd is hard and 
tough enough to admit of running off the 
whe 3 r as closely as can be done with the 
siphon, and then I pur, in from a pint to a 
quart of vinegar to the curd of 1,030 pounds 
of milk and allow it to stand long enough to 
spoil a curd made from good milk. The 
vinegar will, in five to ten minutes, kill tho 
offensive smell that is always present with a 
floating curd and he adds, “ I do not claim 
that such milk will make the best quality 
of cheese, but by such a treatment it will be 
better than by any other that 1 have tried or 
seen tried.” The same result will be obtain¬ 
ed by using sharp, sour whey—the whole 
philosophy of the matter being a change of 
i'ermentaiion. 
Therehavebeen comparatively few floating 
curds in Herkimer this year, the season being 
unusually cool and favorable for the keeping 
of milk in good order both at the farm and 
factory. 
-*♦«.- . 
Stilton Cheese not made in this Coun¬ 
try. —Stilton, as is well known, is made from 
milk which contains not only all its own 
cream, but has an extra quantity added to 
it. When our people are willing to pay freely 
from 30c. to 40c. per pound for good Stilton, 
we presume some of our manufacturers will 
be induced to make it. No doubt a 3 fine a 
quality can be made in America as in En¬ 
gland, but very likely it would not pay. 
The best way to feed bran or meal to stock 
is to use it in connection with hay or other 
fodder. Where lair or or t rouble is sought 
to be avoided, the fodder may be moistened 
and the bran or meal sprinkled over it. In 
this way it udhores to the coarser fodder and 
is thoroughly masticated, thereby being 
made to yield its nutritive qualities with les 3 
waste than when fed separately from the 
fodder. 
We advise our correspondent to make an 
experiment—feeding for a time with bran 
and then with oil-meal, and noting the re¬ 
sult in each case. In this way he will be 
able to satisfy himself as to which is the 
most economical food. 
--4 
EFFECTS OF CROSSING ANIMALS OF 
DIFFERENT C0L0R3. 
A Correspondent of the Farm (English) 
writes :—For several years I have w itched 
the crossing of polled Angus bulls, tuually 
obtained from the renowned Tillyfour herd, 
with fairly-bred,non-pedigrecd Short,-Horned 
cows, and so notable Is the prepotency of the 
polled Angus, that the calves, with the ex¬ 
ception of a few d irk,greys, are invariably 
black and as invariably without horns. 
When tho Short-Horn sire is put upon black 
polled Angus heifer.-!, there is much variety 
in tho color of the progeny, fully half of 
which show the red, white and roan, so 
characteristic of Short-Horns, while many 
are also possessed of horns. 
Some Short-Horn breeders have, perhaps 
unreasonably, a great objection to white 
animals ; they consider them to be delicate. 
In low condition in Winter they certainly 
never look well, and are apt to be iufested 
with vermin. In the West Indies, white 
beasts are notably weaker and worse than 
the colored. Among white stirks there is a pt 
to occur an irritable state of the mucous 
membrane of the generative organs, which I 
have not noticed in the darker colored 
animals. 
The law of reversions often leads to pecu¬ 
liar colors and markings among cattle. In 
this way is to be explained the black mark¬ 
ings and dark nosings which occasionally 
disfigure even well-bred Short-Horns. Such 
out-croppings of old, hereditary ins gnla aro 
particularly apt to occur, where two distinct 
tribes are attempted to be blended. Every 
observant Short-Horn brooder can call to 
mind examples where a Bates family, clean 
and flesh colored about tho nr.re, 13 mated 
with a Booth, equally free from dark mot¬ 
tling?, and yet a considerable proportion of 
the progeny exhibit smutty noses. The like 
tendency to these dark muzzles ir, observable 
among tho half-wild cat le at Chill Ingham 
Park and Him lton Pl>»cc. It is recorded 
that during thirty three years, about ad z?n 
calves have been dropped at C'hillingfiam, 
having dist inct brown, blue, or b'.ack spots on 
their muzzles, choeksor neck®, and, although 
these mottled calves are never reared, they 
still continue occasionally toappoar. thedaik 
marking doubtless dating back to the time 
of King John, when thoro lived iu these 
iilandi an lndigea?Us race of white cattle 
marked with leu or black spots about the 
ears and mnzzlPS. 
White cuttle, with similar dork markings 
about tho head, tnuzz'e, tips of e r rsand feet, 
uro at the present day found in various parts 
of the world. For upwards of 100 year?, 
wild herds of such cattle have lived in the 
Ladrone and Falkland Islands. In the latter 
group those white cattle occupy tire higher 
grounds, keep themselves di-tiuct from their 
Colored fellows in Ihe lowlands, and regularly 
breed tlirco months earlier. It is curious 
that animals in a natural or half-wild sta'.u 
almost invariably divide themselves into 
separate herds, distinguished by uniformity 
of colors. 
Calves when first dropped, and during the 
earlier pei’iods of their existence, often 
exhibit old specific color marks, which grad¬ 
ually wear out. The brindled appearance 
and block rnuzzlo already refer/ed to, aro 
usually more observable in tho young calf, 
and after several months often entirely dis¬ 
appear. Tho lomon red, Hubback rod and 
faded colors, which in some Sliort-Horu 
tribes are very noticeable in the newly- 
dropped amt young calves, are shortly super¬ 
seded by much darker reds. 
Similar tendency to tho development of 
old feral colors is noticeable In foala and 
donkeys, many of which are dropped with 
bars and line? both on their bodies aud limbs, 
which gradually, however, disappear. It 
ha3 long been observed that white pigs can¬ 
not long be bred of uniform oolo , b it be¬ 
come marked with black spots if run in tho 
yard with a black sow or hog. Careful 
brooders of Short-Horns aro very averse to 
mixing with their favorites, Alderney?, black 
Angus, white-faced Hereford®, or other such 
breeds, with colors or marking different 
from the Short-Horns. 
She 
CLOVER HAY FOR PIG3. 
We append a few comments on the sup¬ 
posed discovery of a California paper that 
pigs would eat clover hay. The edi or of l he 
Live Stock Journal gives this bit 0 / expe¬ 
rience and doctrine :—** We have lound that 
nicely-curcd clover cut short, mixed with 
corn meal aud cooked, is one of the bent win¬ 
ter foods for pigs. Oa this, wheu in a warm 
pen, they gained about as fast as upon mcul 
and clover In summer. We think that clover 
should be used In this way us a winter food 
for pigs and breeding sows. The hog requires 
coarse food to facilitate digestion. He can¬ 
not bo kept wholly upon grain, without great 
injury to his digestive powers ; and tlx.e is 
the prime cause of most of the cholera at lh> 
West. BffsidirF, clover posse sob a lirgo per¬ 
centage of muscle forming food, and grows 
the frame of the young animal. 
Cookino Corn in Fattening! Hoes.—The 
more we think about the stereotyped 
claim of a gain of S3-or even 25 percent*,— 
in favor of cooking corn fod to hog?, tho 
more we don’t believe it. 80 Liras vve know, 
there have never been any really conclusive 
experiments made. Corn Is now high, end 
it is worth while to save all we con. It would 
be an admirabtc thing if farmers in different 
sections would try parallel experiments, feed¬ 
ing one lot of hogs 106 bu-hel 3 of raw corn 
and anotherstmilnr lot 160 bu.-hels of ground 
and cooked corn. Of course, the hogs should 
each be weighed before and after the experi¬ 
ment, and the results reported to the press, 
with all particulars. 
