Show r Many fany Ancient Traditions F. F Surround U Uce e of Cheese i j I On a midsummer eve a mal maiden d en having h ving fasted all day should laya lay laya layn a n a clean dean cloth with bread brend cheese and ale and sit down at midnight us as if iC to eat cat Her destined husband will vill then if tradition is justified be drawn to enter the room and drinko drinka drink o n toast to her This is one of many samples of old bId English lore cheese-lore collected in f At At the Sign of oC the Cheese New Years Year's day greetings it appears ap ap- appears pears should properly conclude with the jingle May you of potatoes and herrings have plenty With butter and cheese and each other dainty Christmas eve cheese on the other hand according to a North Riding i i 1 custom should be marked with a across across cross and associated with barley meal and sometimes gin I As for May day the proper Randwick Randwick Rand Rand- I wick procedure used to be to roll three cheeses garlanded with flowers three times around the village church before their ceremonial dissection by the villagers says the Montreal Gazette Hungerford at favored punch with its cheese adding to this mixture macaroni and watercress Going further back into history it itis itis itis is surmised that the delicacy which J Jael ael served to Sisera on a lordly dish before beCore murdering him was most probably cheese and it is recalled that cheese made from the tho milk of sheep and goats was one of the few common articles of diet I mentioned by Homer In Ireland cheese is said to have had an an honored place in the gold gold- plated banquets of Tara Moreover each English county had once its own variety of cheese Among those which are now almost forgotten are mentioned the cheeses of Banbury Norfolk Essex Kent Sussex Suffolk and Yorkshire All AU this and much other interest interest- interesting interesting ing information about cheese has been collected by the New Zealand Dairy board by which the booklet in question is issued Approximately Approximate Approximate- ly half the cheese consumed in Britain it is pointed out now comes from that dominion The average consumption in England is 9 Yz pounds per head a year compared with eight and seven tenths seven tenths pounds 20 years ago t t |