2g2 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



And now, in conclusion, allow me to present for consideration 

 the following propositions : 



First. Perfect neatness in everything pertaining to the dairy is 

 an absolute necessity. * 



Second. Milk free from all impurities, taints and odors, or in 

 other words, pure milk, is essential to success. 



Third. The greater the yield of cheese from a given quantity 

 of milk, the better the quality ; and the less the yield, the poorer 

 the quality. 



Fourth. The cheese-maker must be qualified for the business, 

 first, by nature ; second, by study ; and third, by practice. 



And, finally, unfailing success will attend those cheese-makers 

 only who attend in time to all the minutiae of the business. 



In reply to a question Mr. Lewis said : To salt the curd with- 

 out draining it, is the general practice, and where curd-mills are 

 used, the curd is seldom pressed before grinding ; but I would 

 always do it, for you avoid guess-work — you never can tell how 

 much salt the whey will carry out with it. If no mistake has 

 been made in the operations I have described, you can press your 

 cheese lightly or heavily, just as you choose. It used to be 

 thought that an increasing pressure was necessary to secure good 

 cheese, but I now conclude that the amount of pressure is of little 

 consequence. If your cheese is made right, it won't hurt it either 

 way ; if it is made wrong, neither light nor heavy pressure will help 

 it. The " white whey " or cream cannot be saved ; it will go off 

 in the dry-room, if not before. I have had cheese out of which 

 the butter would ooze, in the dry-room — it was made up too 

 sweet, before the milk was fairly "ripe/ 7 as I term it. Many 

 cheese-makers have yet to learn that milk must be kept at least 

 twelve hours before it will make good cheese ; if made up before, 

 poor cheese will result, and the fault is not in the rennet or the 

 salt or the pressing. The cream cannot be saved after it is once 

 skimmed ; when the separation is once made, it is a final divorce. 

 I think curd will take the salt as well warm as if cooled ; but my 

 practice is to turn off the heat at such a time that the curd shall be 

 of about the right temperature when it is sufficiently firm to put 

 in the hoop. Experience shows the advantage of this ; but there 

 is no objection to salting the curd warm. <• 



