ime--because
the alfalfa wasn't ripe. I said, "What in hell has alfalfa got to
do with sage cheese?" He said, "Well, we flavor the sage cheese
with a synthetic sage flavor and then throw in some pieces of
chopped-up alfalfa to make it look green."

So I said to hell with that and the next time I saw George
Crowley I told him the story and George said, "We don't use
synthetic flavor, alfalfa or anything like that."

"Then what do you use, George?" I inquired.

"We use real sage."

"Why?"

"Well, because it's cheaper than that synthetic stuff."

The genuine Vermont Sage arrived. Here are our notes on it:

Oh, wilderness were Paradise enow! My taste buds come to full
flower with the Sage. There's a slight burned savor recalling
smoked cheese, although not related in any way. Mildly resinous
like that Near East one packed in pine, suggesting the well-saged
dressing of a turkey. A round mouthful of luscious mellowness,
with a bouquet--a snapping reminder to the nose. And there's just
a soupcon of new-mown hay above the green freckles of herb to
delight the eye and set the fancy free. So this is the _veritable
vert_, green cheese--the moon is made of it! _Vert veritable._ A
general favorite with everybody who ever tasted it, for
generations of lusty crumblers.

Old-Fashioned Vermont State Store Cheese

We received from savant Vrest Orton another letter, together with some
Vermont store cheese and some crackers.

This cheese is our regular old-fashioned store cheese--it's been
in old country stores for generations and we have been pioneers
in spreading the word about it. It is, of course, a natural aged
cheese, no processing, no fussing, no fooling with it. It's made
the same way it was back in 1870, by the old-time Colby method
which makes a cheese which is not so dry as Cheddar and also has
holes in it, something like Swiss. Also, it ages faster.

Did you know that during the last part of the nineteenth century
and part of the twentieth, Vermont was the leading cheesemaking
state in the Union? When I was a lad, every town in Vermont had
one or more cheese factories. Now there are only two left--not
counting any that make process. Process isn't cheese!

The crackers are the old-time store cracker--every Vermonter
used to buy a big b