THE PARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



449 



prevent the flies from dumaging tlie clieese. If there are 

 any cracks in the cheese, as will sometimes be the case 

 with that made in cold weather, they should be filled up 

 with some paste made of butter and flour ; for if the flies 

 once get into the clieese, it is very difficult to dislodge 

 them. 



We often hear it asserted that it is impossible to make 

 good cheese on some land, but I believe (if properly man- 

 aged), good cheese may be made on land of almost every 

 description, 1 have Isnown several instances iu which the 

 cheese has been bad, and the fault has been laid on the 

 land ; but when the farm came into other hands, and a dif- 

 ferent system of management was pursued, the opposite re- 

 sult was attained. Some land is doubtless more especially 

 adapted for dairying ; we generally find the finest cheese is 

 made where the dairy pastures consist, for the most part, of 

 fine old turf. Another fallacy that we often hear advanced 

 is, that the application to the land of lime, bones, guano, &c., 

 spoils the cheese. This may form a convenient excuse for 

 those who are not disposed to lay out their money in im- 

 proving their pasture land, but the application of these 

 manures greatly improves the quality of the herbage, and 

 thereby makes the milk richer. I believe the cheese may 

 require more care in its manufacture •, but if that be ob- 

 served, its quality will be much superior. As a proof, I may 

 mention that the winners of the three principal cheese prizes 

 at the Royal Agricultural Society's Exhibition, held at 

 Chester, in 1858, otated, in answer to questions submitted to 

 them by the Committee, that their pasture land had been 

 almost wholly dressed with bones, a considerable portion of 

 it several times over. At this Society's Exhibitions, the 

 cheese prizes have been almost always won by those mem- 

 bers who have been in the habit of improving their dairj 

 pastures by bones or guano. In fact, dairy pastures do 

 require occasionally top-dressing with bones, or some other 

 manure. There is a considerable produce in the shape of 

 cheese goes yearly off the land, and unless it is returned, 

 either by the direct application of artificial manure, or by 

 the consumption of green crops upon the land, it will become 

 worse instead of better, Bones will be found superior to 

 anything else as a top-dressing for old dairy pastures, 

 because they supply just those ingredients to the land of 

 which it is deprived by the milk. Milk contains a certain 

 amount of phosphate of lime, and other mineral matters, and 

 land where dairy cows are principally kept becomes in time 

 deficient in those elements of fertility, which no manure 

 contains so abundantly as bones. 



It is very important on a dairy farm that the pastures lie 

 contiguous to the homestead ; they should always be pro- 

 vided with shade, and plenty of good water. If the cattle 

 have to be driven far to be milked in warm weather, they 

 become heated, and the milk is sweltered, and this causes 

 the cheese to ferment and heave. 



It is found that the cheese is richer when the cows are 

 well kept in the winter time, and are turned out to grass at 

 the spring in good condition. Cheesemaking does not usually 

 commence, to much extent, before April ; it is better to have 

 the cows calving in the month of March and April than 

 sooner. They should have some cake or crushed corn, as well 

 as hay, after they have calved : it prevents them losing their 

 condition, as they often do so rapidly after calving, and they 

 will give a larger quantity of much richer milk than they 

 would without it. 



Mangolds or grains will also be found to increase the 

 quantity of milk at this season of the year. A cow's milk 

 should not be made into cheese till four days after she has 



calved, or it ViiW cause the cheese to ferment. The cheese 

 made in the early spring (when the cows are eating dry food) 

 and at the latter end of the year, is inferior in quality to 

 that made in the summer months, when the grass is the 

 finest and best. The yield of milk will be much increased 

 at the latter end of the year, when the pastures arc fading, 

 by giving the cows plenty of cabbage, swede turnips, or 

 other roots. There is nothing better than cabbage for pro- 

 ducing milk, and keeping the cows in healthy condition. 



A dairy cow will repay good keep and attention, perhaps 

 better than any other animal. It does not answer to keep 

 many sheep in the dairy pastures — they pick out all the 

 finest of the grasses; the cows will not give nearly so much 

 milk, and the quality of the cheese will also be deteriorated. 

 The dairy cows should have a plentiful supply of good grass 

 throughout the summer, and should never be suffered to go 

 short, for, if their yield of milk is once diminished, they will 

 not entirely regain it. There is a considerable expense and 

 trouble attending cheesemaking, and the dairy cows, whilst 

 they are in milk, ought to have the best of everything, and 

 be made to produce as much milk as possible. 



It perhaps will not be out of place here, to mention the 

 great importance of good milking. The cows should be milked 

 as nearly as possible at regular intervals, from five to six 

 o'clock in the morning, and the same time at night. They are 

 very seldom milked more than twice a-day. The milk should 

 be drawn away as quickly as possible, and care must be 

 taken to leave none in the udder, for the last milk is much 

 the richest ; and if it is not all extracted, the secretion of 

 milk gets gradually less, and the cow becomes dry much 

 sooner than she ought to do. The average yield of cheese 

 in this district is probably not 3j cwts. per cow ; but where 

 first-rate dairy cows are well kept, 4^ and even 5 cwts. may 

 in a good season be made. 



It is a general practice with the large dairies in this dis- 

 trict to colour the cheese with annatto. This does not at all 

 aflFect the quality of the cheese, but (if the cheese is fine) 

 the factors will generally give a higher price for it than 

 when uncoloured. Cheese is coloured at a cost of rather 

 less than sixpence per cwt. Some use the liquid colouring, 

 and others the annatto in the lump ; the liquid is the 

 best and most regular in colour, but it is a little more expen- 

 sive. It is sold in quart or pint bottles, and requires mea- 

 suring exactly, so as to keep the colour of the cheese uniform ; 

 ^ ox, fluid measure, or rather less than a tablespoonful, is 

 about right for a cheese, which would weigh when ready 

 for sale 26 lbs. At this rate a quart bottle would colour 

 rather more than fifty cheeses. When the lump colouring 

 is used, it should be carefully weighed, and dissolved in hot 

 water, a few hours before being used; the weight of a 

 sovereign is the right quantity for a cheese of the size before 

 meationed. 



The rennet, which is used to turn the milk, is made by 

 soaking the dried skins, which are bought for the purpose, 

 in cold water which has been previously boiled, and in which 

 some salt and a small quantity of saltpetre have been dis- 

 solved. The halves of three different skins, so as to secure 

 uniformity of strength, are soaked in a gallon of water, and 

 that should make enough rennet to turn rather more than 

 twenty cheeses of the size before-mentioned ; but of course 

 it depends a good deal on the size aud quality of the skins. 

 One pint of this liquid should suffice for three cheeses. A 

 difference of opinion exists as to whether rennet is better 

 fresh made or not. I believe iu Cheshire the rennet is made 

 fresh every day, whilst in Gloucestershire it is customary to 

 make sufficient in the spring to last through the summer ; 



