THE CULTIVATOR. 
283 
CONNECTICUT CHEESE DAIRIES. 
In our late excursion through Connecticut, we were 
glad to find satisfactory evidence that the character of that 
state for the manufacture of good cheese, is still main¬ 
tained. The two principal cheese neighborhoods which 
we visited were Goshen anil Winchester. The firs* of 
these towns beeame famous for its cheese at an earlier 
period than any other section of the country, but though 
the place still holds a prominent rank in this respect, we 
are inclined to think, from what we saw and heard, that 
for general reputation, “ the sceptre has departed from” 
Goshen, and is now held by Winchester. 
From Mr. A. Miles, of Goshen, a large dealer in cheese, 
we obtained some facts in regard to the quantity annually 
made there. The average quantity exported from the 
town, is about 500,000 pounds. The quantity of butter 
sold, is small, being only about 40,000 pounds per year. 
Cheese has fallen much in price within a few years, 
owing to the increased quantity thrown into market. It 
sells this season, while new, at five cents per pound—at 
home, or within the town. The average quantity made 
per cow is not known, but may be estimated at 300 to 
350 lbs. Some good dairies make much more. Mr. 
Lawton sold last year an average of 403 lbs. per cow, 
and with what he kept for his own use, probably made 
425 lbs. per cow. 
Mr. Lewis M. Norton, of Goshen, was the first manu¬ 
facturer of what is called Pine-apple cheese, in Ame¬ 
rica. He commenced making this article in 1808. 
He had at this time no knowledge of the mode in which 
it received its peculiar form and qualities. He saw 
some which came from England, and set himself to work 
to imitate it. His first trial succeeded so well that he 
was encouraged to persevere, and he has continued to 
progress, until at this time, he has so perfected the whole 
process, from the ‘‘running up” of the curd, to the sale 
of the cheese, as to entirely distance all competition. 
Mr. Norton is this year using the curd from ninety 
cows, for making pine-apple cheese. The principal 
portion of this curd is bought of his neighbors, for which 
he pays them the same price per pound that common new 
milk cheese brings, which is five cents this season; so 
that those who sell him their curd, save all the labor of 
pressing and curing their cheese, besides gaining con¬ 
siderable fx'om the greater weight of the curd. 
The curd is kept for twenty-four hours before it 'is 
made into cheese. The advantage of this, is supposed by 
Mr. Norton to be, that a degree of fermentation takes 
place, which being checked at a critical time, by the 
cutting of the curd, preparatory to its being formed into 
cheese, is not renewed after it comes from the press; 
thus preventing the defect of the cheese being hoven or 
blown. 
The curd is rapidly cut into pieces of not more than a 
fourth of an inch square, with a machine invented by 
Albert Loomis, Torringford, Ct., which Mr. N. prefers 
to any curd-cutter he has seen. After being cut, the 
curd is put in a cheese cloth, placed in warm water, and 
the temperature gradually raised by pouring in water 
that is still warmer, till it reaches 105 degrees, by the 
thermometer. This does not scald the curd, which ac¬ 
cording to the practice of the best cheese-makers in Eng¬ 
land and in this country, is, we think, discountenanced. 
The curd is next cooled, by adding cold water, )o the 
temperature of 88 degrees, when the whole of the water 
is drawn from the vat, and the curd weighed, and salted 
with the finest kind of table salt—four ounces of salt to 
ten pounds of curd—and after being well stirred is put in 
the press, where it remains twenty-four hours, or a long¬ 
er time, as is convenient, as it takes no hurt by remain¬ 
ing forty-eight hours. The curd is weighed immedi¬ 
ately over the tub, being drawn up by a pulley, and when 
this is done, is again lowered into the tub, where it is 
salted. 
The cheeses are pressed in molds, made of sound 
blocks of oak timber, about twenty inches long and ten 
inches square. They are sawed lengthwise through the 
middle, and each half is carved or worked out so as to 
give the general shape of a pine-apple—one half in each 
part. From the cavity to the upper end of the block, a 
roove is cut in each part, which, when the parts are 
placed together, makes a round channel of about two and 
a half inches in diameter, for passing the curd into the 
mold. When the two parts of the Mock are put to- 
ether in such a manner that the cavities match each 
other, and are strongly keyed into a frame, they form 
the mold for pressing the curd. The pressure is ap¬ 
plied by means of a screw, operating on an upright, 
ound piece of wood, which fits the channel in the block, 
and as it is forced down compresses the curd in the 
mold. The presses are very compact and strong, and 
appear to answer the purpose well. He has sixty- 
eight of them, and makes twenty-eight cheeses per 
day, weighing when dried five pounds each. When 
the cheeses are taken from the press, they are trimmed, 
and then placed in nets and hung in water of the tem¬ 
perature of 130 degrees. This is to soften the outside, 
that it may receive the desired impression from the net, 
which is done by taking them from the water while en¬ 
veloped in the nets, placing them in a frame and strain¬ 
ing the nets tightly over them by means of screws. This 
indents the threads of the net into the cheese in such a 
manner as to give them the external appearance of the 
fruit from which they are named. After this operation 
the cheeses are hung up in the nets from three to five 
weeks, for the outside to harden, and are then set on 
shelves having suitable hollows or concavities for the 
cheeses to rest on. In the centre of each concavity, a 
hole two inches in diameter is cut through the shelf, 
the more freely to admit air to the cheese, and to allow 
any liquid which may come from it, to run off. The 
nets used for the cheese are made of three-threaded flax- 
twine, and the manufacture of them costs, exclusive of 
the material, about 5 cents each. They will last three or 
four years. 
Mr. Norton sells his cheese in New-York, Baltimore, 
and other southern cities. It usually nets him about ten 
cents per pound, after deducting* commissions. How 
much greater are the actual profits derived from this kind 
of cheese than are obtained from other kinds, we cannot 
tell. Mr. Norton has evidently incurred great expense 
in his fixtures, and in the time and study he has spent in 
bringing the manufacture of the article to such complete 
perfection, and this ought, injustice, to secure him some 
corresponding advantages. He, however, makes no 
secret of any of the discoveries or improvements which 
his protracted and indefatigable labors have effected; but 
with a highly commendable liberality, freely permits 
the most minute examination of his systematic operations. 
At Winchester, we were obligingly furnished with 
many facts in regard to dairying and other agricultural 
branches, by Messrs. S. & L. Hurlbut. These gentle¬ 
men purchase yearly 500,000 pounds of cheese, and are 
perhaps more widely known, from their long experience 
as dealers in this article, than any other men in the 
country. Mr. L. Hurlbut took us to several of the noted 
dairy farmers, among whom was Mr. Norris Coe, of 
Winchester, whose cheese is considered of the very 
nicest quality, and commands a quick sale in the market, 
at as high a price as is brought by any of the choice 
kinds of imported cheese. He usually obtains from six¬ 
teen to eighteen cents per pound, by the quantity, and it 
retails in New-York and the southern cities, at from 
twenty to twenty-five cents per pound. 
We are unable to give the particulars of Mr. Coe’s 
mode of making cheese. He thinks its superior excel¬ 
lence is attributable to peculiar management, which, 
being the result of a discovery of his own, he feels war¬ 
ranted in not divulging to the public, for the present. 
We however, saw the cheese in all its stages, from 
the curd just ready for the press, to that which was 
two years old. Some of the latter we tasted, and must 
acknowledge that it was superior to almost any other we 
have met with. 
We noticed here that everything pertaining to the 
dairy department, betokened the practice of uncommon 
neatness. The cheese-room, instead of emitting a rank, 
unpleasant odor, as is in many cases observable the mo¬ 
ment the door is opened, was so sweet and agreeable 
that we were prompted to ask whether spices had not 
been used there, but were assured that nothing of the 
