386 



AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



rich in taste and flavor, and firm and full in texture, solid, but not tough." Mr. 

 Pattert^on, of Edinburgli, say.s : "A good cheese is rich without being gi-easy, 

 with a ."^weet, nutty flavor, clear, equal color throughout, and of a compact, solid 

 texture, without being waxy; firm, and yet melts easily in the mouth, leaving 

 no rough or ill flavor on the palate." It is plain that here is full, or at least 

 substantial agreement regarding the requisite characteristics of such cheese as 

 will best suit the English market ; and this market, it being remembered, 

 furnishes by far the largest export demand which exists at the present time, or 

 which may be expected to arise for many years to come. 



It is not deemed out of place here to remark that quite a different article, 

 and one which is firmer in texture and less rich in the butyraceous element is 

 demanded tor exportation to warmer countries, or to endure with safety long 

 voyages during which tropical regions are traversed. This point, however, 

 will be resumed when treating of the practice of the art by ditlereut modes of 

 manufacture, 



MILK. 



Before proceeding to treat of the theory or practice of the manufacture of 

 cheese, it will be well to devote some attention to the nature and properties of 

 the material from which it is made. 



Milk is the liquid secreted by the action of certain glands from the blood of 

 mammiferous animals. It is the provision of nature for the nourishment "of their 

 young, and to this end it is most admirably adapted. Like all the secretions 

 of the animal body, milk is a compound substance, and its composition varies a 

 good deal according to the circumstances attending its secretion. Ordinarily, 

 the milk of the cow contains an amount varying from three to five per cent, of 

 each of the following substances : oil, (fatty matter or butter,) casein or curdy 

 matter, and lactose or milk sugar. It also contains a very small proportion of 

 salts, and from eighty-five to ninety per cent, of water.* 



To the naked eye milk appears to be an opaque, uniform, white liquid, but 

 such it is not in fact ; and under a good microscope it is readily seen to be a 

 transparent liquid, bearing myriads of minute globules difi'used through it. 

 These globules are the oil or butter, and give to the liquid its white, opaque 

 appearance. Each of them is enclosed in a little sac or film. After continued 

 agitation, or by the action of heat, these little sacs burst and liberate the fat, 



* The proportion of the constituents in milk varies greatly. So far as we can judge, it depends in pnrt 

 upon peculiarities in the con.ititution nu\X glandular sybttm of the individual cow yielding it, and upon the 

 lood and general trtatiiitut bestowed. 



Below are res-ults of the analysis of various specimens, swmc of which were examined here, and others are 



from reliable sources. 



Numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 are of milk yielded by good cows, at good pasturo feed in summer ; the milk of four 

 to fix cows, mixed together, in each case. 

 Number 5 is the cream from No. 4. 

 Number 6 is the mixed milk of three Jersey cows. 



Numbers 7 and 8 the milk of two good cows in poor and overstocked pasture. 



Numbers 9 and 10 are two reported analyses of milk from distillery fed cows in New York and Brooklyn. 

 In the above analyses all the nitrogenous constituents are reckoned ua casein. 



