K. J. (Kenneth Jesse) Matheson

Kenneth Jesse Matheson (1885–1940), usually published as K. J. Matheson, is known today through a small body of practical agricultural writing, especially on cheese manufacture. His best-known work, Neufchâtel and Cream Cheese: Farm Manufacture and Use, was written with F. R. Cammack and issued as a U.S. Department of Agriculture publication.

The books and catalog records available for Matheson point to a writer with a strong focus on applied dairy science rather than literary authorship. Works associated with his name include guides on Neufchâtel, cream cheese, and cows'-milk Roquefort, suggesting that he wrote for farmers, processors, and agricultural readers who needed clear instructions they could put to work right away.

Very little biographical detail appears to be readily documented in the sources found here beyond his full name and life dates, so the picture that survives is mainly through his publications. Even so, those works show a straightforward, useful style and preserve a snapshot of American agricultural knowledge in the early 1900s.